New Developments
by Illioth
Summary: Three years after the cell games a Spy Satellite crashes to earth, containing new images of the cell games. How will this new footage affect fourteen year old Gohan's life at school and his budding relation with Videl?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It came from above

Prologue:

After the events of the Cell games the world quickly returned to its normal day to day activities. At the end of the games when Gohan didn't take credit for beating Cell the infamies loud mouth Hercul Satan steeped forward claiming the title as the strongest person in the world. The world accepted Hercul's claim of winning and his explanation of the other fighters using cheap light tricks in there fights. Only those who were there and saw what transpired knew the true horror of the Cell games and what it cost for Gohan to win. His victory came with a cost higher than anyone would have expected or liked. The loss of his father, Goku, left Gohan with not only physical scars but the guilt of knowing he could have prevented it.

As much as Gohan wanted to spend his time wandering the mountains in a state of self-pity Chichi had other ideas. Gohan soon found himself shut in his room with a mountain of books surrounding him.

When Gohan first started back into his studies the one thing he had asked for was that he could stay in his Super Saiyan state. He had done this as a way to continue his training. However it was quickly discovered that as a Super Saiyan Gohan had not only increased physical ability but his mind worked at a heightened level as well.

Within a week Gohan had completed and memorized all the work books his mother shut him away with. Although Gohan was super-fast the mail wasn't, meaning he had a lot of free time waiting for the next level of work books to arrive. During this time Gohan would go off and train by himself, but soon found the need for an actual opponent. He considered asking Vageta but was worried how the proud and temperamental prince of the Saiyan's would react after being beat by the son of his greatest rival. There was only one Z fighter left for Gohan to train with; Piccolo.

His old teacher was happy to train Gohan again. Although it was quickly discovered just how large the power gap between the two of them was. Since Piccolo couldn't keep up with Gohan he started to teach him how to better control his power. This involved a lot of meditation and mind training to focus his KI.

Within a year of training, despite it only being chucks of a week or so while Gohan waited for new work books, he came to master the ability to sense KI. At one point while meditating he was able to feel every living thing on the earth. Although he could sense KI without difficulty he still needed work on using it for more things. Where Piccolo could move an entire mountain without touching it Gohan had trouble with just a bolder, although a very large bolder. Gohan however enjoyed having a challenge that he couldn't figure out in mere minuets.

Piccolo also taught Gohan a little about body manipulation. Gohan would never be able to re-grow a severed limb but he learned how to focus his energy for healing and how to change the way his body looked; making his muscles bigger or smaller. Along with these techniques Piccolo also showed Gohan how to create his own uniform. Chichi was very happy about this because now she didn't have to worry about replacing the close Gohan ruined during his training.

Gohan's ability to complete his academic work so quickly meant that after two years Chichi ran out of things for Gohan to study. At this point Bulma stepped in and let Gohan come to Capsule Corp to get some hands on experience. At first Gohan was set up in his own lab where he worked on some simple projects assigned by Bulma. Most of these tasks were building old Capsule products from scratch. Bulma soon realized that Gohan could easily put together any old products as well as improve on them. Noticing this Bulma had Gohan become her assistant and receiving a pay check to match the roll of working as an equal with the richest and smartest person in the world

Between training with piccolo and working with Bulma Gohan was able to put the sadness he had felt about the Cell games behind him and look to the future for once. However Gohan wasn't the only one looking to the future. Chichi was also making plans for Gohan.

Three Years after the Cell Games:

Gohan slowly crawled out of bed, far too early for his liking. He found over the last couple of years that he liked to sleep in despite going to bed at a reasonable time. Although Gohan was part alien he had the sleeping habit of any fourteen year old, as well as some of the other unwanted afflictions of human boys his age.

Despite being intellectually on par with the smartest person on earth Chichi still wanted Gohan to go to school. The reason she gave Gohan was that although he was smart he needed the documents to prove it and the best way to do that was to start in middles school so he could get into a good high school so he could go to a good university. However Chichi's real reason was that she wanted him to make friends his own age and learn about the world and the people in it; unlike his naïve father. There might also have been some thoughts about grandchildren but she wasn't going to push for that yet.

To facilitate Gohan going to school his whole family, Chichi and his toddler brother Goten, moved in with Bulma. As much as Chichi would have liked to stay in the mountains it would be very hard for her to look after Goten without Gohan's help. Also, since Gohan is too young to have a license how would he tell people he got to school each day.

From Capsule Corp it's only a two hour bullet train ride to Satan city where Gohan will be going to school. Gohan can still fly but this way he has a reasonable story about getting to school. Living at CC also means that Gohan can still help out Bulma while he's at school, which is part of the reason Bulma was so happy for them to move in despite Vageta's objection.

Gohan found it much easier to function after having a long hot shower. He got dressed and headed to the kitchen to grab breakfast before heading to school. Around the kitchen table was Bulma and his mother who looked like she had been up for some time; probably thanks to Goten.

"Gohan" Chichi said as he was devouring what was on his plate. "You can't go to school looking like that."

"What's wrong with what I'm warring?" Gohan replied looking down at the shirt and pants he had put on that morning.

"It's not what your warring but your still in your still in your Super Saiyan form. If you go to school like that there's a good chance that someone will connect you with the gold fighters from the cell games". Gohan hadn't thought of that as he looked over and saw Bulma shake her head in agreement. Closing his eyes Gohan stopped the flow of KI Keeping him in his Super Saiyan state. With the KI cut off Gohan's hair and eyes began to darken and return to their normal colour for the first time in years.

When Gohan opened his eyes he looked at his reflection in one of the appliances on the kitchen counter. He noticed that his hair had returned to being black except for a small part that still had a blond tinge to it. His eyes also looked lighter then they use to be. Gohan was shocked at first but soon realized that he still had a fair amount of energy running through him. He concentrated as hard as he could to suppress it and he saw the blond part start to darken but as soon as he stopped concentrating it returned to being blond.

"That's the best I can do" Gohan said to his mother with a sheepish look on his face. "I guess all this time as a Super Saiyan has left me with so much energy that I can't fully return to my normal state at the moment".

Chichi's face made it abundantly clear that she was not happy about this and was second guessing her choice to let Gohan stay in that golden harried state so long ago.

"I like it" Bulma piped in trying to help Gohan after seeing Chichi's face. "I'm sure Gohan will be able to control his power over time. For now he can just say that he dyed it a while ago and is just waiting for it to fade out."

Gohan nodded his head in agreement with Bulma's idea as well and giving her a small wink of 'thank you'.

"Fine" Chichi said in defeat. "But, when you're not at school or working with Bulma I expect you to be working in controlling that extra energy of yours."

Gohan was happy with this answer and looked forwarded to working on this problem. He hadn't had much time to work on the KI training Piccolo had taught him and this would be the perfect way to get back into it.

"You should probably get going " Bulma stated looking at the clock on the wall. It was already eight o'clock and classes started at eight thirty. He finished off the last few bits of food on his plate, and got up to set off for school. Just before flying off the balcony Bulma called out to him.

"Catch" Bulma said throwing a capsule at Gohan. Looking at it Gohan recognized it as the new food capsule Bulma and him had been working on.  
>"What's this for?"<p>

"I figured it was time to start field testing it" Bulma said with a smile on her face. "If it doesn't work, just run home for lunch".

Slipping it into a case with his other capsules Gohan took flight to Satan City ready to face whatever came his way .

XXXxxxXXX

Gohan made it to Satan City in only a couple minutes and started to look for his school. He stared from the train station in case one day he actually needed to take it to keep up appearances; it would look wired if he didn't know how to get to the train when he supposedly rode it every day.

He saw that the school was fairly close to the train station so he decided to set down by it and walk to the school from there. It took all of five minutes for Gohan to walk to the front gate of Orange Star Middle School. His mother had insisted that he go there because it was the main feeder school to Orange Star High School, the most recognized School in the country.

Gohan made his way to the main office to get his schedule and finish any final paper work the school may require. The secretary sitting in the office smiled as Gohan walked in.

"How can I help you dear" she said with a kind voice.

"Hi, I'm a new student here. I was told that I had to come to the office to get my time table".

"Yes of cores, Mr. Plunder the principle wants to meet you in his office. It's just around the corner".

Gohan walked around the corner and soon found his way to Mr. Plunder's office. He knocked as softly on the door as he could, and was glad to see he still had control over his strength. The gentle knocking sound alerted the principle to his presence.

"Come in, " Mr. Plunder called through the door. Gohan walked in to find the principle sitting in his chair behind a very nice desk, not as nice as the one in his lab at Capsule Corp but nice all the same.

"You wanted to see me" Gohan asked with a timid voice.

"Ah, yes you must be Gohan"

"Yes, sir"

"I just wanted to personally welcome you here and tell you how excited I am to see what a person with perfect entrance scores can accomplish".

"Well, I'll try my best " Gohan replied not sure how to respond to that.

"Very good" Mr. Plunder said. "Here is your time table. Your first class starts in a couple minutes. I suggest you wait for the class to get settled before you enter so the teacher can properly introduce you. Now get going and try your best".

Gohan quickly left the room still not understanding what Mr. Plunder had meant about seeing what Gohan could accomplish. Putting that out of his mind Gohan began wandering around the school looking for his first class. Along the way he heard a few of the students whispering about him.

"Hey who's the new guy?"

"What's up with his hair?"

The whispers continued until a bell sounded and all the students headed off to class. Once the halls were clear it was much easier for Gohan to look for his class room. He found it a couple minutes after the bell and assumed it would be safe to enter.

The teacher had just finished some morning announcements when he say Gohan enter. "Ah, you must be are new student. Class I'd like to introduce our new classmate Gohan. Well go on tell them about yourself."

"Hi, I'm Gohan. This is my first time going to an actual school as I have been home schooled my whole life. My interests include science, art and martial arts".

"Thank you Gohan, feel free to take any seat you like."

Looking around the room Gohan spotted an open spot next to blond a girl, who started to wave when she saw him looking that way. Taking the wave as an invitation to sit there Gohan started his way up the steps to the back of the lecture hall type room. On his way to his set the teacher started talking again.

"Gohan got perfect scores on all his entrance exams. I hope the rest of you can learn something from his example".

Despite the odd outburst of 'geek' or 'nerd', Gohan quietly took his seat in the back. The blond girl who has been waving at him lend over as he sat down and introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Erase and these are my friends" she pointed to the two students sitting beside here.

"This is Sharpener" she said indicating the blond haired guy sitting next to here. "And this is Videl" indicating the black haired girl next to Sharpener.

"So what do you think of this school so far?" Erase asked in almost the same breath she used to introduce her friends.

"I don't really know yet I've only been in the building for half an hour".

Before Erase could ask another question the teacher cleared his throat indicating he wanted to start his lesson and that the students should be quiet. Gohan found the next couple hours to be very underwhelming. The subject matter was the same he had learned shortly after getting back to earth from Namek. During this time Gohan looked out the window and stared to draw what he saw. This was the same thing he would do at home when he couldn't study any more.

Whenever the teacher asked a question at Gohan he quickly provided an answer without realizing that the teachers were testing him with some of the hardest questions they had. The students sitting beside him however didn't fail to notice this. During the next break while the students were waiting for their next teacher Sharpener decided to speak up.

"Hey brains, is there anything you don't know?"

"Ya, when's lunch" Gohan replied getting a chuckle out of the people listening to the conversation and a grin out of Sharpener.

Before the teens could say more, their next teacher walked in. Mr. Smyth, there history teacher, was one of their favorites because he tried to keep things current. Even though they were studying the history of long died civilizations, he often brought up new discoveries that were found in some of these long forgotten places.

This was the only class that Gohan actually had to pay attention to, because he knew some history but it was clear that this teacher was better informed then most text books. Just before the end of the class at lunch time the teacher told them that latter this week he would be assigning them to their group research projects. This was the most talked about and anticipated project of the year because Mr. Smyth would let the students research almost anything they wanted.

The bell rang letting the students head for lunch. Gohan was just about to get up to leave when Erase told him to join her and her friends for lunch. Remembering his mother telling him to make friend he said ok. The group of four walked outside and sat down under a large tree. Everyone started pulling their lunches out of their bags.

"Hey Gohan didn't you pack a lunch?" Videl asked in an interrogative sort of way.

"Ya, I did" Gohan said about to reach for the capsule in his pocket, when he remembered that no one knows about food capsules and it would be wired if he pulled one out.

"I just left it in my locker" he said quickly giving him an excuse to leave the group to see if the capsule worked. Getting up Gohan quickly searched for where his assigned locker was. He hadn't had a chance to find it earlier and at the moment he didn't have time for his new friend to get suspicious of why it was taking so long.

He turned a corner and walked right into Videl. He moved back as quick as he could so Videl wouldn't get hurt walking into his solid body. She staggered back a step before regaining her footing.

"Any one see the wall that just jumped out and attacked me" she said still getting her bearing. When she finally looked up Gohan was still standing in front of her.

"Damn Gohan what are you made of I thought I had just walked into a brick wall or maybe a steel one".

"Sorry I didn't notice you coming around the corner quick enough".

"It's ok, accidents' happen. Any ways why are you here?"

"Well I can't seem to find my locker again" Gohan replied trying to make himself sound silly.

"What number is it?" Videl asked thinking it funny that the guy with perfect scores forgot where his locker was. After telling her the locker number Videl quickly showed him where it was since it was right next to hers.

Gohan had remembered reading the combination for the lock on his time table and was easily able to open it. He pulled the capsule out of his pocket and pressed the button on it. Videl saw the small cloud of smoke the capsule made and asked Gohan what he was doing. Quickly thinking up another lie Gohan said that it was his bike capsule; it's not working right and randomly lets off puffs of smoke.

Grabbing his now decasualized lunch bag he quickly closed his locker hopping to turn Videls attention away from it. Videl commented that he should either get his bike looked at or get a new one before something went seriously wrong.

The two of them headed back out to the tree to sit with the others. The whole way there Gohan could only think about how much he hated lying to his new friends and if his lunch survived being in a capsule.

As luck would have it his lunch was in perfect condition and tasted delicious too. Sitting there the group started talking about what they would want to do for the history assignment.

"So what do you want to research Videl?" Erase asked giving her a bight eyed smile.

"She's going to do it on the Cell games, what else would she do" Sharpener said.

"Why would she do her research on the cell games?" Gohan asked thinking it a kind of strange topic for a history class since it only happened three years ago.

"Because Videl's father was the one who beat Cell, silly" Erase chimed in.

Gohan sat there for a moment taking it all in. He couldn't picture Videl and that crazy loud mouth together.

"Earth to Gohan, " Sharpener said knocking Gohan on the head. "Where have you been for the last three years living in the mountains or something?"

"Well Ya actually, my family only just move out of the 439 mountain district so I could go to school. That's why I was home schooled until now".

All three of them looked at him with open shock and Sharpener looked almost as silly as he felt. The whole group burst out laughing after a moment.

"Any ways" Videl began. "Hurcule is my father but I don't think I would do my research on the Cell games, I already know all there is to know about them. I think I would prefer to look into the old World Martial Arts Tournaments from before my dad was the champ".

"Hey Gohan didn't you also say you were interested in martial arts?" Erase asked.

"Ya, it's been a bit of a hobby of mine to look into that stuff".

"Hey Videl you should partner with brains. You'd probably get an A if you did the project with him".

"I'd want to focus in on the fighter's styles and I doubt this guy could tell the difference between turtle style and Crane style".

"Good point, by the looks of him he couldn't even hit a fly" Sharpener said ending the conversation.

Gohan just sat silently with his face all red from them talking about him. In the back of his mind he was thinking 'if only they knew'.

The bell sounded to end lunch and the group made its way back to class. Gohan decided that for this class he would at least pretend to think about the question before answering.

Despite his plan, he found it hard not to just blurt out the answers in his next class because it was math. Compared to the math he did with Bulma on a daily bases this was so simple. By the end of class however there were some whispers about him not being as good as everyone thought he was. With class finishing up Sharpener lend over, "now we can see how you do with subjects that involve more than just your brain". With that the class got up and headed for gym.

After the students got changed they headed out to the playing field at the back of the school. Since the school was located near the edge of the city it had a fair sized filed with a chip track running all the way around it.

They started off by warming up with a lap around the track. Gohan felt as though he was walking as he moved along in the middle of the students, trying his best to look like he was in average physical shape. However by the end of the lap he was still breathing easy while most of the students were trying to catch their breath.

The teacher walked up to them and said that today they were going to play soccer. A lot of the student groaned at this. To them the idea of physical activity did not appeal in the slightest. The two team captains were Videl and Sharenar since they were the top athletes in the school.

The teams were quickly divided up with Gohan ending up on Videl's team. As the two teams took their sides of the field Videl decided that Gohan would try being goalie since he 'didn't know the rules of the game' and this way he was less likely to make a foul.

As Gohan took his place in the net he decided to size up the two teams. Focusing on the players KI he was able to detect that each team was evenly matched. He was surprised by the energy level coming from both Videl and Sharpener. Videl in particular was at a level just above most adults.

The Game went on at a good pace for about fifteen minutes before some of the weaker students started to slow down and the battle for the ball became a battle between Sharpener and Videl. At the beginning of the game Gohan had decided to let in all of Sharpeners kicks, which soon seemed to be the only shots coming at him after a while.

The teacher saw the change in the game play and gave the kids a break to catch their breath and get some water. Gohan was heading to get some water when Videl called him over to talk to her.

"What are you doing? It's like you're not even trying to stop Sharpeners shots. I don't care how little skill you have, but from what I've seen so far you're not trying your hardest".

Gohan was a little socked by this. He had been holding back a little whenever Sharpener made a shot but no one should have been able to tell. 'how does she know"?

Gohan was about to respond when he heard shouts and screams coming from the other students. Looking up he saw something big heading towards him and Videl. Without thinking he threw himself forward pushing Videl to the ground.

The object just flew over them before crashing to the ground. A huge cloud of dust came up and coved the two students so no one saw what happened to them.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Data Recovery

A minute after impact, the dust started to settle, Gohan and Videl started to come to their senses. Gohan looked down at her and realized that his hands were cupping her chest. When Gohan didn't move right away Videl spoke up.

"You may have just saved my life but that doesn't mean you can feel me up."

"Sorry," was all Gohan could say, quickly trying to get up. However, from the position they were in, the only way to do that was for him to push against her.

For a moment, he was caught with the realization of where his hand had just been and was about to experience one of those normal reactions boys his age get, when someone called out to them.

"Are you two okay?" It was Erase's worried voice calling.

Forgetting his previous train of thought, Gohan called back to everyone else that they were okay. He then turned around to see what had crashed. The object had left a long scrape in the ground leading up to a large crater. Even Gohan would have been hurt if he was hit by it.

From the large amount of twisted metal, it was hard to tell what it used to be, but Gohan guessed that it was a satellite of some sort. 'It's probably an old satellite that lost control and fell out of the sky. But wouldn't someone have noticed if there satellite was going to crash?' he thought to himself.

The dust had cleared and the whole class was coming closer to see what it was. Speculations started to fly around. Some thought it was an alien ship or probe; others thought it was some unmanned test plane. Gohan didn't think much about it until someone called out.

"Hey, look at that side,there's some kind of logo." The class started to shuffle around so everyone could get a look at the logo, but no one recognized it. Gohan decided to take a look but figured that if none of his classmates knew the logo, there was no way he would.

He looked at it anyways and there was a visible sign of shock on his face. Gohan recognized the logo with its red background and two black R's on it; the Red Ribbon Army. With all the excitement and speculation flying around, only Videl caught the look on Gohan's face.

Walking up to him, she asked, "Do you recognize that logo?" in a sort of interrogative way; but it also seemed like she was trying to talk calmly, as though suspecting that Gohan was in shock.

Gohan stumbled for a moment before saying 'No,' very flatly. Videl could tell he was lying, but decided to drop it. With a crash like this, the police would be here soon and she could just ask them: being the daughter of the world's strongest fighter had its advantages.

"Okay, class," the teacher said, to get the students' attention. "Let's all step back from it until the police get here and figure out what it is. I want everyone to head back in and get changed."

Gohan was quick to get changed and then slipped away from the class to call Bulma: she had to know about this. When he thought he was in a safe location, away from the other students, he pulled out his cell.

"Hello, Bulma speaking."

"Hi Bulma, its Gohan."

"Gohan, what's up? How's the first day of school going? Have you gotten yourself a girlfriend yet?"

"I don't have time for this right now. You need to get a recovery team over to my school right now: a satellite just crashed in the back field."

"If it's just a satellite, why should I send a team? I would have been informed if it was one of ours."

"I know it's not one of Capsule Corps,' but it has the Red Ribbon army logo on it."

At that, Bulma was silent for a moment. She remembered all the problems caused by Dr. Gero and his androids, not to mention Cell.

"Don't worry, a team will be there right away and I will head it up personally."

"Thanks Bulma. Whenever I see that symbol I get worried."

"I feel the same way, see you soon."

Hanging up, Gohan felt better knowing that Bulma was taking care of things. If anyone could figure out what that thing was doing at his school, she could.

As Gohan turned to head back to his class, Videl stepped out from around a corner.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I had to call my mom quickly, it's my first day and if she sees this on the news before I tell her about it she will freak out and I don't want her moving us back to the mountains and home school again." Gohan stopped his long-winded and drawn-out lie with a look from Videl that said, "Okay, I get it –enough."

The two headed back to where the rest of the class was gathering in the gym. As Videl and Gohan walked in, the class broke out in cheers. One of the students had seen Gohan push Videl out of the way just before the satellite passed over them.

"If Gohan hadn't pushed Videl out of the way, they both would have been hit by it," one student confirmed.

"Yeah, Gohan is a hero!" another student yelled out as the class resumed its hollering and cheering.

Just as the cheers were calming down, Mr. Richards walked into the gym, followed by Mr. Plunder. The two educators quickly got the students' attention and began to address the class.

"Hello, boys and girls. Mr. Richards has just informed me of what happened. The police have been notified and are sending over a team to determine what that object is. Since this is your last class of the day, you will be allowed to leave early as I'm sure you have all been a little shaken by this event."

This announcement caused a few cheers and every face now sported a huge smile, except for Videl and Sharpener's. "One last thing before I let you go," Mr. Plunder said, silencing the students who were eager to leave."There will be an assembly tomorrow to announce to the whole school what has happened. That's all - you are free to go."

The students began filling towards the gym exit when the doors flow open, and in walked a blue-haired woman. Most of the students had seen pictures of the world's richest woman, but few thought that they would ever see her in person.

"Mr. Plunder, the office told me I could find you here," Bulma said, walking up to the man.

"Yes, Mrs. Briefs, how can I help you?" the principle replied, very surprised to have such a famous person addressing him.

"My company was tracking the satellite that recently crashed into your school's playing field. So far no company has claimed the spacecraft, and as such, Capsule Corp will be collecting it to determine its origin. The local police have been informed and a recovery crew will be here shortly to clean up the mess," Bulma finished, and stood there waiting for the principle to say something; but he was left speechless by this unprecedented string of events.

After a moment for his brain to process what was just said, Mr. Plunder simply replied, "Very well."

Satisfied with this answer, Bulma turned around and began to head to the door when she stopped and called over to the students who had been standing there eagerly listening to the exchange - if you could call it an exchange.

"I need to ask: did anyone see anything before the satellite crashed?"

"If anyone saw something it would have been Gohan or Videl, since they were almost hit by it," a student called out.

"Would Gohan and Videl please follow me? I would like to get statements from you while things are still fresh in your heads."

Without further talk, the student began filling out of the school while Gohan and Videl followed Bulma back out to the field where the satellite landed.

Standing next to the crater created by the impact, Bulma began to ask questions. "Videl, is it?" Bulma started. "What did you see?"

"Well I didn't see anything. I was busy telling Gohan off for not trying his best during the soccer game when all of a sudden he throws himself at me and we both hit the ground a second before that thing passed over us," Videl said, trying to be as detailed as possible, knowing how important an accurate description is when one is trying to piece things together.

"And you, Gohan." This time she said it with a bit of familiarity that Videl caught, raising questions in her mind after hearing part of Gohan's phone conversation earlier.

"Well, all I can remember is that I heard a shout and there was the satellite flying at us. I just tried to push Videl out of the way and then it crashed."

"Thank you for your time. My team appears to be arriving, so I will let you two get on your way." At this, a couple of large trucks began pulling up on to the field next to where they were standing.

"Can I get your last names so I can contact you again if we have more questions?"

"Sure, I'm Videl Satan."

"So you're the daughter of Hurcule. I've heard a lot about your own fighting career in the paper this last year, since you won the junior division at the last world martial arts tournament. I'm sad to say I didn't make it to the last tournament; however, the fights in the last couple years have been very boring compared to the ones years ago."

"Well, thank you. I'm always glad to meet a supporter," Videl said, trying to sound polite, but there was part of her that wanted to learn more about the older tournaments, and she had to ask a question."Which tournaments did you mean when you said the 'ones from years ago?'"

"I mean the twenty-second and twenty-third. Back when they had the preliminary rounds, where the finalists were decided by skill and not overall strength, unlike how they are decided now, with a punching machine. I remember when Jackie Chun won in the twenty first tournament; that was an amazing fight."

Videl's eyes lit up, wishing that she could have seen it for herself. She always wanted to find out more about the old fights, but the video equipment of the time was bad and most of the final fights were never recorded due to technical difficulties.

"I could talk about those fights all day, but I have to get to work and clean up this mess. So, what's your name?" indicating Gohan. Back when Gohan started assisting Bulma, he was happy to do it, but he didn't want it made public knowledge. He was worried that the media would start looking into his family.

"Gohan Son" Gohan replied glad that Bulma was keeping up the appearance that they didn't know each other. "Thank you both. Now if I could ask you to clear the area, so we can get this mess taken care of."

Without another word the two students left the field and made their way to their lockers. Along the way, Videl stopped for a moment and got Gohan's attention.

"Gohan," Videl said in a very sweet voice which reminded him of when his mother was about to punish him for doing something. "I'm grateful for you saving my life, BUT if you ever tell anyone about where your hands ended up you will need someone to save your life. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," was all Gohan could say in response. The rest of the walk to their lockers was held in silence as both thought over the events that had just transpired. Videl was thinking about the old martial arts tournaments and how cool it would have been to see them. Gohan, on the other hand, was thinking about where his hands had been. He thought about how Videl had felt, how soft yet firm they were. Gohan was glad that their lockers weren't too far away, because his current train of thought was creating a noticeable problem that he didn't want anyone to see.

"Have a good day," Gohan said as he quickly shoved something in his locker and started moving away.

"Ok, see you tomorrow." With that, the two split off and Gohan was free to be on his own until he cooled down a little. 

That evening, Videl sat in her room, going over the events of the day. She was glad to be alive, but there was something nagging at her. She remembered overhearing Gohan's phone call - not that she was trying to listen in, but he was talking about some army and how he was worried about it. There was also the person's name he had said: Bulma.

With sudden realization, Videl shot up and began to pace around as she thought over some of the smaller details. On the phone, Gohan had said something about an arm. Then later he called the person named Bulma. The next thing that happens is Bulma Briefs, the smartest person in the world, who comes walking in, taking over the whole situation. Later when she was talking with Bulma, the way she had asked Gohan the question sounded almost like they knew each other.

"It can't be possible," Videl started to say out loud. "Gohan can't know Bulma. How could a guy who only just moved into a city know the richest person in the world?"

Videl almost threw herself down on her bed as reality started to sink in. Gohan must have called Bulma and asked her to take care of the crash. Thinking through this strange revelation, Videl knew there was still a piece missing.

"Even if Gohan knows Bulma, why would she drop everything and come at his call? It was just a satellite that crashed into our school field. It can't be…" Videl remembered the logo on the side of the object.

This had her back on her feet, pacing around the room again. She remembered what the logo looked like: the two R's on a red back ground; also, Gohan had said something about an army. Taking this information Videl went to her computer and tried a search with what she knew.

She started by looking up armies, but there were so many over the years that it was hopeless to look through them all. She tried narrowing things down by searching for "RR Army." There were still a lot of useless things popping up, but she kept looking for any clue that would lead her in the right direction.

After a few pages that talked about different units in some foreign countries, she found something promising. It was the Red Ribbon Army. Clicking on the link she found herself staring at the logo that had been on the satellite.

Reading through the information helped some more things make sense to her. The Red Ribbon army had started as a weapons developer, but was quickly over shined by Capsule Corp. Over time the army aimed for world domination.

That explained why Capsule Corp would be interested in getting to the satellite, Videl thought. She found it very interesting reading all the rumors about what he Army did. Some of the rumors sounded believable, like how large and extensive it was, but she could not believe the rumor about how it ended. There is no way that one person, a kid no less, could charge through the army and destroy them all on their own.

With her search over, she was content with what she knew. "Okay, so Gohan knows Bulma and knows about the history of the Red Ribbon Army," Videl stated, thinking out loud again. "So when he saw the logo on the Satellite, he called Bulma because he knew it would be important to her. I can live with this; but Gohan had a direct line with Bulma. How well does he know her to be able to reach her like that?"

Satisfied with what she knew at the moment, she was able to drop the subject, but had promised herself to talk to Gohan about all this the next chance she got. While she was relaxing in her computer chair, a knock sounded on her door, and her mother walked in without waiting for a reply.

"Honey, your dad is waiting for you in the gym," Videl's mother said.

"Thanks mom, I'll be there in a minute."

"It's so good of your father to take time to train you every day despite his busy schedule. Well, I'll call you two when dinner is ready."

With that, Videl's mom quickly left the room with a motherly smile on, still thinking about how nice it was to see Hurcule bonding with his daughter. Videl, however, was staring to catch up to her father in terms of skill and ability, and was beginning to see her father as more of a big mouth, always going on about his victory over Cell. Videl wanted to believe her dad, but looking at the level she was at and how strong she was compared to her father, she had some doubts about his clams.

She stared walking through their mansion of a house, pushing the doubt out of her mind. Who else could have beaten Cell - those weird fighters that used those light tricks? However, she did think it would be cool to fly.

It took Gohan a couple of hours of flying to get himself back under control. The events of the day left him with too much built-up energy. As soon as he left the school, he headed for the train station, where he flew into the sky, changing back to his Super Saiyan form as he went. When he reached a high altitude, much higher than any plane would fly, he pushed himself to the next level of Super Saiyan.

Although he could stay at the first level indefinitely, Super Saiyan Two took a lot out of him. After an hour in that level, Gohan was too exhausted to maintain it and dropped down to level one. In this form, he spent some more time flying around.

He decided that he may as well take a look around Satan City so he would at least know where things were if he was talking to people at school.

His school was out on the edge of the city, and had a bit of a rural feel to it, but only a couple blocks away the buildings started to get taller and the roads busier. Gohan noted that the city was a fairly clean place; no doubt because Hurcule lived here, and the city wanted to look its best for tourists. Even from the sky, Gohan could see some nice-looking shops and cafes down in the main tourist area.

He enjoyed his little bit of sightseeing, until off in the distance he heard the sound of sirens. Flying towards the source, Gohan soon discovered a car chase in progress. The car running from the cops was swerving all over the road and was headed for a fairly populated area. The police were doing their best to keep up with the criminals, but they had to go a little slower to make sure they didn't cause an accident or hit anyone as they started to enter the highly populated area.

Gohan thought about going down and helping the police, but decided just to watch for now because he didn't want to be seen, and he was also scared of what his mother would do if she found out what he did. The chase went on for a while and nothing eventful happened until Gohan saw the guys in the runaway car almost hit someone on a crosswalk.

Seeing that near-accident triggered something in Gohan. He was back at the Cell games watching as his dad sacrificed himself because of his actions. This memory brought back all the guilt he had felt back then and he knew he had to do something. Reaching out with his KI, Gohan focused on the car, trying to lift it off the ground. At first nothing appeared to happen but soon it was apparent that the car causing the chase had started to bounce up and down.

With a little more focus, the tires of the car lifted right off the ground. As the car's momentum died away, the car came to a stop, floating about five feet above the ground. The police cars finally caught up and they surrounded it looking on in awe. Gohan saw that the car was surrounded and slowly lowered it to the ground.

The driver of the offending car stepped out just as awe struck as the police. At this point a large crowd had formed and several people were taking pictures of the mysterious floating car. The police were the first to come out of their shock, and promptly arrested them.

Gohan felt absolutely exhausted from the strain of lifting the car with just his KI from that distance. He flew off to East City, quickly dropping out of his Super Saiyan form. Gohan was sure no one saw him and was glad that no one got hurt, but he was still a little mad at himself for taking so long to act.

Just as Gohan was nearing Capsule Corp, he thought back to the satellite crash and what had happened. He ended up just floating high above his new home until things had settled back down before finally going home.

As he landed on the balcony and walked into the living room, he was greeted by his mother - and she did not look very happy.

"Where have you been? School got out over two hours ago and I know you wouldn't actually take the train," Chichi said with a sharp, angry tone in her voice. "Didn't I tell you that if you weren't at school or working with Bulma you were supposed to be working on getting your hair back to its normal color?"

"Sorry mom, I was just flying around a little. I got out of school and had so much pent-up energy I just had to let loose. While I was flying around I did work on some of the KI control that Piccolo taught me."

Chichi gave Gohan a once-over when he mentioned working on his KI control. She was surprised but happy to see that the yellow tinge was gone from his hair and that his eyes were their old stony black. Seeing this, she smiled slightly and let her anger subside.

"Well seeing how well your bit of training has worked, I will let it slide today, but if you decide to go gallivanting around the sky for hours at a time I expect you to call: got it?"

Not waiting for an answer, Chichi left the living room, heading towards the kitchen to start working on dinner. Although Bulma had chief bots that could cook, Chichi still preferred to make their meals by herself most of the time.

"Let loose, you say," Vegeta said, coming into the room as Chichi was leaving. "I wouldn't be surprised if scouters on the other side of the galaxy didn't pick your energy signal up."

"If they did pick up my energy then they know not to bother coming to Earth to pick a fight."

Vegeta scoffed at this, although he knew it was true. The half-breed offspring of his rival was stronger than him: the mighty Saiyan prince. Hurt from Gohan's remark, Vegeta retreated to the gravity room to continue his training, determined to eventually overcome Gohan.

With no one else in the room for Gohan to talk to, he headed off to his room to get his homework out of the way. In an hour, Gohan had completed his homework for the week, since most of it was math and science work he could do in his sleep. Looking at his watch, he figured dinner wouldn't be ready for a little while longer, so he decided to see if Bulma was around. He wanted some answers about that satellite.

Walking into her personal work room, Gohan found Bulma looking into a large chunk of the satellite.

"Have you found anything yet?" Gohan asked as he walked up beside Bulma to take a look for himself.

"We recovered the main storage device and a team is working on recovering the data," Bulma said, not looking away from her work. "I have also determined that this satellite was either designed or built by Dr. Gero. The workmanship is too distinct for it to be anyone else."

"Any idea what it was for?" Gohan asked, almost worried to find out what the answer would be.

"Judging by the wear and tear, I'd say it's about thirty years old. It was probably launched back when Gero was working for the Red Ribbon Army. As for what it was for, I can't tell until the data is recovered."

"Do you know how long that will take?"

"Not for sure, but the team I have working on it is very good, so they should have something later tonight."

"Can you forward me the data when you get it? I'd like take a look for myself."

"Sure."

"Thanks. I just don't feel comfortable when things of Dr. Gero's start popping up."

Bulma nodded in agreement, feeling exactly the same. Before they could say anything more about the satellite, Chichi called over the intercom that dinner was ready. With this news, Gohan was quickly on his way to the kitchen.

XXxxXX

As Videl finished the sparing match with her father, the doubts about his actual strength came to her mind again. Out of five rounds, she was able to beat him three times. He said he was just holding back to make it fair, but the look of exhaustion on his face didn't back up his statement.

After she took a shower, she sat on her bed, turning on her TV. She was looking for something to distract herself from the disappointing training session. She flipped through channels until she reached the news where an unusual story caught her attention.

"As you can see," the news reporter was saying, "this car chase came to an end in a very unexpected way. Police were baffled when then the car they were pursuing suddenly lifted into the air where it came to a stop before returning to the ground. We have just received this amateur video of the incident."

They played a clip where the car clearly lifted into the air and came to a stop. Videl watched with amazement. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. "There's no way this is real. Cars just don't start flying like that. I wonder if Erase has seen this. She would go ballistic."

Videl picked up her phone and called her friend. "In other new, this afternoon at…" Videl turned off the TV when Erase answered.

"Hey Erase have you seen the news tonight?"

"No, why?"

"I was just watching and there was this story about a car suddenly flying into the air where it stopped and hovered before coming back down. There's no way its real right? Cars can't just fly into the air like that, can they?"

"Calm down, V, you're getting overexcited about this. I bet it was just some kind of trick like those ones at the Cell Games. You remember those weird people that made it look like they were flying around and could blow things up with light? Even your dad said he could do those things. Anyways, I got to go V, I can't seem to get anywhere on this homework. Maybe I should ask that new kid to help me out; they said he got perfect scores on the entrance exam. Bye."

With that Erase hung up and left Videl sitting there in just as bad a mood as when she finished her training session. Remembering the Cell Games didn't help the image of her father. "Cell could take on an entire army with tanks and huge weapons all by himself: I still don't see how my dad could have stopped him."

Videl was tired of having so many unanswered questions. First there was Gohan knowing Bulma Briefs, then the mystery of the flying car, and now she wanted to know just how strong her father was. Sleep did not come easily to her that night.

XXxxXX

Gohan had been playing with Bulma's son Trunks and his little brother when she called him to come to her lab. Gohan was surprised that Bulma would call him now. He thought she was just going to forward whatever data was recovered from the satellite.

"What is it, Bulma?"

"I just got some of the data back from the recovery team and I thought you should see it."

Bulma clicked away at her computer for a second before the main screen in the lab came on. On the screen you could see what looked like a small town or complex. All of a sudden there was an explosion and the whole place turned into a battle field. The odd part was that there was only one person attacking the place. Gohan thought the kid attacking the compound looked like his father.

"Bulma, is that who I think it is?" Gohan asked, needing to have someone else confirm what he was seeing.

"I recognize that place. It was the base of the Red Ribbon Army. What you are watching is Goku destroying it. And this is only one clip."

Bulma typed away at her computer for a second and the picture changed. Now there was a video of the world martial arts tournament where Goku fought against Piccolo. Bulma changed the picture again and there was Piccolo and Goku facing off against Raditz. The two watched as Gohan came flying out of the space ship and head butted Raditz.

Bulma changed the video once more. It now showed the Cell Games where Gohan and Cell were locked in the final Kamama wave battle. Bulma and Gohan looked on as the battle came to an end and they could clearly see Gohan barely standing after beating Cell.

Bulma turned off the screen and looked over at Gohan before speaking.

"From what I can tell Dr. Gero used this satellite to spy on your father. This is only a fraction of the total data stored on the hard drive, and the recovery team says it should be able to get about 95 percent of it put together."

"So my father's whole life from the time he destroyed the Red Ribbon Army is on there?"

"Looks like it."

"I don't know what to think about this."

An uneasy moment of silence followed, as Gohan kind of wandered out of Bulma's lab. He walked through the halls of Capsule Corp for a while before heading to his own lab, where he sat down behind his desk. He figured he should be glad that so much of his father's life was recorded, but part of him knew what those same recordings helped to make Cell. Gohan decided that he would talk to Bulma after school tomorrow and figure out what they should do with the footage.

Looking down at his empty desk, Gohan remembered that Bulma had removed his Capsule Corp responsibilities while he was attending school. However, at the moment he would have loved to have a good challenge to take his mind off the memories that were starting to surface. With nothing to do in his lab, Gohan made his way to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Reward 

Videl had trouble getting out of bed come morning. The never-ending string of questions regarding the new student, the satellite crash and the truth of her father's victory over Cell kept sleep at a far distance. Had it not been for her exhausting training session, she would never have found sleep.

Finally out of bed, Videl made a quick list of the questions she needed answers to: How well does Gohan know Bulma, anything about the satellite, and how strong is her dad really. With the list in her pocket, she made her way to the kitchen for breakfast.

When she got there, she was not surprised to find her mother sitting with her usual morning scowl, meaning that her dad was nursing another hangover. Videl could not understand how her father could drink like a fish each night and expect to stay the strongest person in the world. Before the Cell Games, he would never drink, and had always done his best to stay in top physical condition. This change in his daily routine was just one of the things Videl hated about her father winning the Cell Games.

Videl quickly ate a bowl of cereal while she thought, 'sometimes I wonder if he is even trying to stay in shape the way he acts these days. I wish he could just go back to the way he was before the Call Games. He may have only been the World Martial Arts Champion, but he was a lot less of a loud-mouth, and he made more time for me and mom. Now he's just becoming an alcoholic riding along on his fame.'

As her thoughts came to a close, she grabbed her bag and headed out the door to school.

XXXxxxXXX

Gohan was able to wake up on time and didn't have too much trouble getting out of bed. It had been weeks since he had last powered up to his Super Saiyan Two. The strain of that, along with moving the car, had drained more power than he had thought.

Getting out of bed, he could still feel that he had overworked himself a little, but he also had that wonderful feeling that most people get the day after working out a little harder than usual. After cleaning himself up, Gohan went to get breakfast. Like the day before, he was greeted by a smiling Bulma, and it looked like his mom had gotten to sleep through the night as well.

"Good morning, Gohan," Bulma and Chichi said in unison.

"How did you sleep?" Bulma continued, knowing that the data recovered from the Satellite might have weighed heavily on his mind that night.

"Actually, I slept better than I have in a while. With moving and getting ready for school, I hadn't had a chance to really burn off some extra energy."

Chichi had just been telling Bulma about him gallivanting around the city yesterday. Bulma was happy that he had gotten out of his mood from last night. The three of them sat quietly, eating their breakfasts and watching the news. It was a nice, normal-feeling morning that you would find at most homes; that was until a certain news report came on.

The kitchen soon became a very dangerous room with a woman furiously swinging a frying pan in wide, angry arcs. Bulma moved over to the doorway in case Chichi's wild swings came her way.

"JUST WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, GOHAN?!" Chichi yelled at him, with a seething rage in her eyes. "What if someone saw you? Do you know what could happen?" Chichi stood still for a moment with the frying pan raised, ready to strike if Gohan didn't have the right answer for her.

"I COULDN'T JUST STAY THERE AND WATCH!" Gohan yelled back at his mother. "The driver was all over that road and had barely missed one person already. I didn't care if someone saw me. I would rather be called a freak or whatever, than know that someone else got hurt, or killed because I stood idly by."

Gohan didn't wait for a reply from his mother. He walked out of the room and flew off to school, hoping he would cool down by the time class started.

XXXxxxXXX

As Videl walked through the school gate, she saw Gohan sitting under the tree they had lunch under the day before. She headed over to him, intent on getting some of her questions answered. However, as she got closer to him she could tell he wasn't in a good mood. The expression on his face could have made Vegeta take a step back.

Tentatively, Videl sat down beside him. All thoughts of getting information out of him had left her mind. 'He looks really angry,' she thought, looking at him. 'Yesterday he seemed like such a happy guy. I know there was that whole thing with the crashing satellite, but I don't see how that could …'

Videl's train of thought was thrown off as she saw a small tear form in the corner of Gohan's eye. He wiped it away as fast as it formed, but Videl realized that he was sad. His look of anger was just a cover; a very good cover, but a cover all the same.

"What's wrong with you?" Videl asked with a caring tone. She wasn't too scared about how he would react now.

"I'm fine!"

"No you're not; I've seen hardened criminals getting beaten to a pulp with happier expressions." Videl said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"What does it matter to you? We only met yesterday."

"Hey, bud. I know we only met yesterday and all, but don't forget you saved my life yesterday and there is no way I'm going to forget that and let you sit here all miserable-like." Videl was a little shocked by what she had said. She had meant it, but she didn't expect it to come out like that.

"Sorry," Gohan said, bowing his head slightly. "I'm just a little mad at my mother right now. I shouldn't have said it like that." Videl was glad to see the familiar mannerisms she had seen in Gohan the day before.

"So what are you mad at your mom about?"

"It's nothing, really. We just had a misunderstanding, I guess," Gohan said, knowing he couldn't tell her what it was really about.

"I know all about those kinds of arguments. My dad can be very annoying and pig-headed at times; all because he's the strongest person on Earth. I mean that doesn't give you the right to become a lousy alcoholic who will not even let his daughter date unless the guy can beat him. Like, how can he be so stupid at times?" Videl let her own rant fade away as she realized what she was saying.

Gohan let out a little chuckle as Videl came to the end of her rant. It helped cheer him up to see that Videl had her own problems at home.

"Hey, what are you laughing at?" Videl said, returning her focus to Gohan.

"It's nothing, really. I was just thinking about how silly our parents act when they think they're protecting us." Gohan realized that his mother was just worried about him that morning.

"I know, but as it stands, I can't even bring a guy over to the house without my dad scaring them away." This got the two of them laughing. They fell silent thinking about all the other silly things their parents tended to do.

"Thank you Videl," Gohan said, breaking the moment of silence.

"What for? All I did was start ranting about my problems."

"True, but it helped anyways. We should get going or we'll be late for class." The two of them smiled as they walked side by side to class.

XXXXxxxXXX

The morning went by quickly for Gohan, compared to the day before. He stayed under the radar through most of his classes, playing down how much he actually knew. He soon found himself under a tree with Videl, Erase and Sharpener, eating lunch. Although Gohan could pack it away better than any human, he could still easily survive on a normal-sized lunch.

The group happily chatted as they ate, discussing the events of the school, which was mostly to help Gohan to know what was what. Videl tried every now and then to steer the conversation in a direction where she could get information out of Gohan; however the speed at which Erase was going made it hard for anyone to get a word in edgewise.

"So," Erase said, finally slowing down to a more normal talking speed. "Do you have a crush on any one, Gohan?"

Gohan's face turned several shades of red at the unexpected question. Sharpener fell over trying to hold in his laughter – which was obviously a losing battle. Although Videl seemed to look harder at Gohan than the others, as always, her curious side just wanted to know.

"I haven't even had a chance to have a decent conversation with anyone since I got here, except for Videl. How could I have found someone to have a crush on?" Gohan said this, thinking it would be enough for Erase. He quickly discovered that he shouldn't have said Videl's name.

"Videl, you say …" Erase started, clearly having only heard Gohan say Videl's name. "You got guts. Don't you know that Videl's dad will not let her date a guy unless he's stronger than him?" Videls face paled noticeably when Erase said this.

"Videl did mention that, but…" Erase cut Gohan off before he could finish his sentence.

"Oh, so you think you could beat the Great Hurcule, the man that defeated Cell with his bare hands? The two of you would make an excellent couple, although, Videl's the strongest kid in the school and Gohan's one of the cutest boys at school." Erase finally stopped talking as her mind went in to schoolgirl overdrive, thinking about the two as a couple.

"We are not a couple, and never will be," Videl said in a very firm and threatening tone. This broke Erase out of her fantasies and back to reality.

"Sorry, Videl," Erase put in. "You know I just like to tease you. I didn't mean it." The blush on Erase's face let Videl know that Erase was still thinking along those lines. Letting it go, Videl turned back over to Gohan.

"When she asks crazy questions like that you have to be very blunt and concise or she will take it the wrong way: got it?" Gohan nodded his head in agreement as the bell rung, signaling the end of lunch.

XXXXxxxXXX

The students had just settled into their seats when the entire school got called down to the gym for a special assembly. As Gohan walked through the halls in line with his class, he remembered what the assembly was going to be about: the satellite crash. The students quickly filled the gym, all of them wondering what they would find out.

"Hey, Videl, is that your dad up there?" Sharpener gestured to the stage where an assortment of faculty was sitting.

"Yeah, that's him. I wonder what he's doing here."

The students finished getting to their seats and waited for the assembly to begin. The whispering soon died down as Mr. Plunder, the principle, made his way up to the podium.

"Good afternoon, students," the principle began. "I'm sure all of you have heard about the incident that happened yesterday. However, I'm going to take a moment to clarify what happened so that everyone is on the same page. Yesterday during the last period, a satellite came crashing to the ground in the middle of our back field. Thank to some quick thinking from some of our students, no one was hurt. The satellite has been retrieved by Capsule Corp and they are currently trying to figure out where it came from and who it belongs to. So far nothing has been reported about what the satellite was for, but I have been assured that we will be updated as soon as any information is known." Mr. Plunder stopped talking for a moment so the student body could fully digest the information he had just given them.

The talking receded once more and Mr. Plunder continued his speech. "Now, I would like to take a moment to thank one of our students. Would Gohan Son please join me on stage?"

There was a small amount of murmuring as Gohan slowly, and awkwardly, made his way to the fount. It was clear that he didn't like all the attention he was getting and just wanted this whole ordeal over.

"I have called Gohan here because without his quick reaction to the situation yesterday, we would currently be mourning the loss of one of our fellow classmates. At this point, I would like to turn the floor over to Mr. Satan who has asked to give a special presentation."

Mr. Plunder sat back in his seat as Hurcule made his way to the podium. The whole student body, except Gohan and Videl, cheered as the great savior took center stage. With a shout, Mr. Satan struck up a victory pose, getting more cheers out of the students before he began his presentation.

"Okay all you fans, let's get this started. Without the heroic actions of Gohan here, I would have lost my own precious pumpkin, Videl." Videl did her best to cover her face, unable to believe her father has just said that. The cheering that had erupted calmed once again, as Hurcule raised a hand into the air.

"As I was saying, if it wasn't for Gohan here, my daughter would have died. As such, I am giving him a full lifetime membership to the Satan Gyms." There was collective gasp from the students. Everyone knew that just a month's membership to one of Hurcule's gyms cost an arm and a leg. To get a lifetime membership was unheard of.

Gohan moved up beside Hurcule to accept the envelope he was holding. "It looks like you could use this. You must be like the weakest kid in the school," Hurcule said handing the envelope over. Gohan didn't like that statement, especially coming from a person as weak as Hurcule. The two performed a customary handshake, and then Gohan returned to his seat in the crowd.

"Now then," Hurcule said, bring the schools attention back to him. "I know that at the moment the Capsule Corporation has the satellite, and is supposedly trying to determine where it came from. However, later today I will be holding a press conference demanding that Capsule Corp hand over the satellite and all of its findings to the government. That satellite almost killed my daughter and for all we know, Capsule Corp could be trying to cover its own ass."

There was a huge uproar of chatter from the students now discussing what Hurcule had just said; most of them were agreeing. Gohan was shocked that with just a few words Hurcule, that lying loud mouth, could turn an entire school against Capsule Corp.

Videl noticed the uneasy look on Gohan's face and shared a similar thought. After meeting Bulma the day before, she knew that there was no cover-up. Videl's earlier anger towards her father started to bubble up once more.

The assembly ended after Hurcule's speech, and the students returned to their classes. Gohan's teacher had told his class they could just talk amongst themselves since the period was almost over. Both Gohan and Videl sat in silence, thinking over everything that was said. Gohan just wanted Hurcule to get what was coming to him.

'First he takes the credit for killing Cell,' Gohan began to think. 'Although I didn't really care at the time and even now I don't think I want the publicity. Although look at what he has done with that credit. He has put his face everywhere, claiming to be the best, convinced the world that advanced martial arts techniques are all tricks and now he's trying to shame the name of Capsule Corp and one of my best friends. We should give all the information over to the government see how Hurcule likes that. He wants the truth so badly – let's let the whole world see the truth."

Videl noticed the small smirk that appeared on Gohan's face. She was wondering why he would be smiling. Didn't he know that his friend's company had just been threatened? Videl's curious side kicked in and she leaned over to whisper to him.

"Hey, what are you smiling about? My dad just practically threatened your friend's company."

"What do you mean 'friend's company'?" Gohan asked, a little shocked that Videl had already discovered that he knew Bulma.

"Well, I overheard you saying good bye to a Bulma on your cell when I found you yesterday – and then Bulma Briefs arrived, and I put two and two together."

"Oh," Gohan said, assuming that Videl had only heard him saying goodbye. "Well, as you have figured out, I know Bulma and I know that if your dad does say something in that way in a press conference she will make him look like a fool and a ignorant idiot by the end of it."

Gohan had said that with a confident tone in his voice that made Videl smile brightly.

"I almost want my dad to do it now, just to see the outcome." Gohan was surprised that Videl would say something like that about her father. But at the moment, he was too glad that Videl agreed with him to question why she would want something bad to happen to him.

The class ended and the students gathered their things before leaving for gym class. There was a little bit of chatter about what they might be doing since the field was still in ruins.

XXXxxxXXX

Gohan grabbed a change of clothes from his locker before entering the boys' change room. Before switching into his gym clothes, Gohan concentrated on a physical manipulation technique that would hide most of his muscles. It was hard for him to hold onto that level of change for long, so he changed as fast as possible. As soon as he had finished, he lost control of the technique and returned to his normal form.

However, looking around, he discovered that it wouldn't have mattered anyways; everyone was busy looking at Sharpener and the other jocks that were strutting around in their underwear showing off their muscles. Leaving the change room, Gohan joined the rest of the class off to one corner of the gym and waited to find out what they would be doing that day.

When the whole class was standing there in their gym clothes, the teacher approached them.

"Okay, kids," Mr. Richardson said. "Since the field is unusable today and will be for a while, we will just be moving onto are next unit – martial arts." A few cheers came from the jocks when they heard this. Because the great savior lived in the city, it was a given that every student should learn martial arts. The schools only did small units on it, but since there was a gym or dojo on almost every corner, most students studied outside of school.

"Also," the teacher continued after the students quieted down. "We have a special guest to work with us today." As if on cue, Hurcule came walking in from a side door. 'I bet he has been standing there waiting to make his entrance,' Gohan thought to himself.

"Hey there, kids," Hurcule began. "I heard that you guys would be starting this unit today, and since I was here anyways I figured I'd come in and see what kind of fighters I can make out of you." Once more most of the class cheered, except for Gohan and Videl. Noticing Gohan's lack of interest, Sharpener decided to say something.

"Hey Brains, you don't look too happy about this: what gives?" Gohan realized that his face was currently showing as much joy as it did when his mom brought out her frying pan.

"Not all of us worship the ground my father walks on," Videl said, seeing that Gohan wasn't going to say anything. 'I feel bad for Gohan. He has to continue to deal with my dad after what he said earlier,' Videl found herself thinking. Walking over to Gohan, Videl decided to try to cheer him up.

"I know you're not much of a fan right now, but he is a good fighter," Videl whispered into Gohan's ear. "You could learn a lot from this. Plus, didn't you say one of your interests is martial arts? Now you get a chance to watch the master at work." Videl assumed her words had helped by the grin on his face. That was until she heard him say, "What, the master of Thug style?"

Videl was a little shocked by that reply. She was mad at Gohan at first, but thinking on it, she realized that although her father trained his form a lot, whenever he got in the ring he would in fact fight like a common thug. She couldn't help but let a little smile escape, thinking about the comparison.

The class had been told to line up, so Hurcule could evaluate and correct their stances. Videl stood beside Gohan so she could ask him how he came up with that comparison.

"Hey Gohan; where did that comparison come from? Most fighters don't even notice the way he fights."

"Well I've studies martial arts for a really long time." Gohan replied, figuring that his answer would be enough.

"Oh, and how long have you studied?" Gohan found he didn't really care if Videl knew how long he had been training. He leaned over and told her.

"Since I was four." Videl found herself shocked by this. Her father had waited until she was six before he would even let her come to the gym with him.

"You're lying," Videl shot back at him, sure that he was just trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about. However, part of her wasn't so sure. In the last two days she had known Gohan, he didn't seem like the type to lie for attention.

"Believe what you want, but it's true."

"We'll just have to see about that." The two were silent after that, not knowing that someone had been watching their little chat.

'I don't care if that little pipsqueak saved my daughter's life,' Hurcule was thinking as he watched the little conversation going on. 'No boys are going to date her. I think I'm going to have to teach that kid a lesson. It may have been my wife's idea to give that reward, but that doesn't give him the right to get so close to my Videl.'

As Hurcule made his way down the line, he was looking forward to making that boy look like a fool. He moved right past his daughter, knowing that her form was perfect in his eyes. He stepped up to Gohan and told him to get in his stance. Gohan didn't really change anything about the way he was standing.

Hurcule laughed inside his head, thinking, 'what kind of stance is that? It looks like he's just standing.' This thought was soon smashed to bits as Hurcule tried to find a hole in it; he couldn't. Thinking on his feet he decided that since he couldn't make fun of the kid's stance, he would just show how much of a weakling he really was.

"Not bad, kid, but it's hard to see with that baggy shirt of yours. Why don't you take it off?"Gohan realized what Hurcule was doing and decided that he may as well get it over with. There was no way he could keep the physical manipulation technique up long enough let alone do any physical activity while using it. Gohan decided to take the attention he would get and knock Hurcule down a peg. There was a collective gasp as Gohan pulled his shirt off.

The look in every girl's eye was of uncontrolled lust. The guys looked like they wanted to kill him because of the looks the girls were giving him.

"Damn, Brains, you're ripped. Why didn't you join the muscle train?" Sharpener was referring to the locker room ritual of all the jocks showing off their muscles. Gohan just gave a little grin, not wanting any more attention drawn to him. However, it was Videl who noticed what else he was covered in besides muscles.

"What happened to you?" Videl was referring to the numerous little scars that covered his entire upper torso.

"What do you mean? I've always had these muscles," Gohan said, oblivious to how abnormal it is to have scars all over your body.

"What do I mean? You have scars all over your body. That's what I mean."

"I told you I grew up in the mountains. It's hard not to get a little banged up."

"A little? You look like you've fallen down a mountain, then been crushed by another." Videl's voice was filled with shock but there was a little hint of concern over how someone could get so badly hurt.

Hurcule had moved back a little during this exchange. He was a little upset that his plan had backfired on him. As soon as the commotion caused by Muscle Boy was over, he continued down the line, correcting other students' stances.

Hurcule put everyone through a very hard work-out that day, because he was mad that his plan to humiliate the boy had not worked. The students were glad when the class came to an end.

"Okay, everybody," the gym teacher said. "Let's all give Mr. Satan a big thank you for joining our class today." There was a somewhat subdued cheer from the exhausted students. "Now then," Mr. Richardson continued. "Everyone hit the showers."

The cheerful and energetic jocks from earlier slowly dragged themselves towards the locker room. The only person that looked somewhat unaffected by the tortuous work-out was Gohan.

"Okay, Brains," Sharpener said, as he stripped to get into the large shower. "How is it that you look like you didn't even break a sweat?" Gohan grinned slightly as he looked over at Sharpener. "Like I said, I grew up in the mountains. There's not much to do except run around outside."

Apparently satisfied with Gohan's response, Sharpener and most of the other students made their way into the large communal shower. Gohan was about to apply his physical manipulation technique when he remembered he didn't have to hide his muscles any more. He was about to take his pants off when he caught a less-than-nice comment directed towards one of the smaller boys.

Before discarding his clothes and joining the other boys in the shower, Gohan did a little physical manipulation change on himself to make a couple of things bigger.

XXXxxxXXX

After getting changed, the class met in the hall just outside of the gym. The bell rung soon after everyone assembled and the students quickly moved off to their lockers. Videl was grabbing her things out of her locker when a piece of paper fell out of it. Picking it up, she realized that it was the list she had made that morning. She had completely forgotten about it since the assembly and was a little disappointed with herself for having not gotten any of the questions on it answered. Seeing Gohan walk up beside her to get his things from his locker, she seized the opportunity.

"Hey Gohan," Videl started, trying to sound nonchalant. "I was just wondering?"

"Wondering what?"

"Well, how well do you know Bulma? I mean, you must be pretty close, seeing how you have a direct phone number to her." Gohan moved a little uncomfortably, looking around at all the students mulling about.

"Can we talk about this somewhere else? I just don't want a lot of people to know." Gohan sounded almost like he was pleading with her.

"Sure, where should we go?"

"I don't care; just not in such a crowded area."

Videl closed her locker and motioned for Gohan to follow her. He quickly grabbed his things and followed after her, trying to figure out how much to tell her. 'Should I just give her yes or no answers, or should I tell her a lot? Or should I just lie through my teeth? No, that won't work: I know I can't lie to save my life. Although it would be nice to have a friend that knew about me, so I don't have to lie all the time, and at the moment she is the only one trying to get information out of me – so I guess, if she promises not to tell anyone ...'

Gohan carried on his jumbled train of thought as he followed Videl. He almost walked into her as they came to a stop outside a little café. Videl led him inside and to a little both with a window next to it. A waitress come over and brought them a couple of menus.

"So Gohan," Videl began, hoping to get some good answers out of him. "How well do you know Bulma?"

"First off," Gohan started, needing to know that Videl could keep quiet. "I need to know that this stays just between us. I bet you of all people know what it's like when everyone knows you're friends with someone famous."

"I guess I can. I mean, who would I tell? I just want to know for my own curiosity." Videl kept her face calm, but inside she was screaming, 'Yes, yes, yes! He's going to tell me.'

Gohan was about to talk again when he felt his cell phone vibrate. Looking down at it, he saw that he had a text from Bulma. It was a reminder to let his mom know if he was going to be late coming home.

"I just have to call my mom quickly and tell her I will be late getting home." Without waiting for a reply from Videl, he got up and walked just outside the café to call his mom.

"Hi mom, it's Gohan. I'm just calling to let you know I'm going to be a little late coming home. I'm out..."

"I don't care what you planed on doing. After your behavior this morning you're coming home right away." The connection died and Gohan had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Going back inside, Gohan had to tell Videl he couldn't stay.

"Videl, I'm really sorry but I have to go home. My mom is still upset about the way I left this morning. Can we do this some other time?"

"I guess so," Videl said, the anger clear in her voice.

"How about I give you my cell number and then we can meet up tomorrow?" Gohan offered.

"I guess that will be okay, but you better not ditch me again."

"I won't. I promise."

Gohan wrote down his number and gave it to Videl. He walked back out of the café and headed off to find a safe place to take off from. He wasn't looking forward to what was waiting at home. 

XXXxxxXXX

Remembering the events of the morning, Gohan wasn't even sure he wanted to go home. He was still a little mad at his mom for yelling at him. All he had done was keep that stupid driver from killing someone. However, Gohan knew his mother just wanted him to be safe. It might take a lot to harm him physically, but she still didn't want him to have to deal with any more emotional problems than he already had.

Landing on the balcony to the living room, Gohan slowly walked in, keeping his eyes open for his mother and her frying pan. He was a little surprised to find her sitting calmly in a chair reading a book.

"Hi, mom. I'm home," Gohan said cautiously approaching his mother.

"Come sit down," Chichi replied, indicating the chair next to her. "I want you to know that I'm not mad at you about this morning, but I am disappointed that you would yell at me and then run off like that."

"I'm sorry mom. It's just that ... oh, I don't really know what got me so mad. It was just I knew I had done something right and then you started to yell at me about it." Gohan hung his head as he finished, not sure if what he had said helped.

"It's okay, and you're right, you did do the right thing. I just got worried and overreacted. Can you forgive me?"

"Of course I can," Gohan said, leaning over and giving his mom a hug.

"I'm glad we cleared that up. Sorry about making you come home right away like that, but I just can't stand when we're angry at each other. So what were you going to do anyways?"

"I was just going to hang out with this girl from school," Gohan said. Chichi was kicking herself on the inside. 'He goes out to be with a girl of all people, and I make him come home. At this rate I'll be the reason he never gets married.'

"Sorry about that. Are you two going to meet up again, then?" 'Please say yes. Please say yes,' Chichi prayed in her head.

"Yeah, I gave her my number so we can meet up tomorrow."

"That's good to hear. I'm glad that you're making friends so quickly."

Seeing how the conversation had ended, Gohan got up to leave the room. Glancing down, he read the title on the book Chichi had been reading.

"Mother, what are you reading? Did you get that book from master Roshi or something?" Gohan said this more as a statement than a question, seeing how the book was clearly on the erotic side.

"Well Gohan, since your dad is gone, I need something to get me through the day sometimes." Gohan gave his mother a very disgusted look.

"Don't look at me like that, mister. I know what you keep under you bed. And don't forget who dose the laundry around here."

Gohan didn't say another word as he and his red face left the living room. Lying down on his bed, Gohan was trying to think of where else he could hid his magazines; if his mom had found them, it was only a matter of time until Goten or Trunks would.

'I could lock them in my office,' Gohan began to think. 'No, that won't work; I'd have to take them back to my room almost every day. Maybe I could invent something. I know a capsule that only opens for the specific person.' Gohan got up and headed off to his office to start working on his latest idea.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
>The Plan<p>

That evening after dinner, Gohan, along with Bulma, Chichi, and Vegete, sat in the living room watching the news. Nothing interesting came on except a little more about the flying car incident from the day before. However, at the end of the news, they were told to stay tuned for a special press conference from Mr. Satan.

Gohan had been so caught up working on his new invention that he forgot all about Hurcule's special announcement. Gohan remembered that Hurcule was going to demand that Capsule Corp hand over the satellite and everything they had discovered to the government. He was going to tell Bulma about it, but the speech started before he got the chance.

"Good evening, fans," Hurcule begun with his usual greeting. "I guess you're all wondering why I called this little press conference." It was being covered by every major and independent news group in the country. "Well, as most of you have heard, yesterday a satellite crashed into the grounds of Orange Star Middle School. As it was coming down, it nearly hit my daughter, and as such I want nothing more than to find out who this satellite belongs to so I can make sure they pay. However, as much as I would like to do this, the Satellite in question is being held at Capsule Corp, where they are supposedly trying to find out where it came from. I, for one, do not believe this."

Gohan looked over and saw the look on Bulma's face as he said that. The way her eyes narrowed was reminiscent to whenever Vegete blew up the Gravity Room or Trunks played one of his pranks. Part of Gohan was glad that he hadn't told her about the conference earlier.

"I believe," Hurcule continued after a somewhat dramatic pause, "that, at this moment, Capsule Corp is trying to hide the evidence that it was one of 'their own' satellites that crashed. That is why I have come here to ask you, my awesome fans, to help force Mrs. Briefs to turn over the satellite and everything they have discovered so far to the government. That way, true justice can be served and the real culprits can be punished for what has happened."

Before Hurcule had even finished his speech, Bulma was on the phone. Gohan wasn't sure what she was saying but she seemed to have calmed down a little. She had finished the phone call just as Mr. Satan finished his speech, and the TV had turned back to a reporter on location where the speech had been given.

Gohan asked what the call was about but she simply pointed to the report on the TV.

"I'm just getting word now," the reporter said, putting a finger to her ear so she could hear her boss. "Come first thing Monday morning, Capsule Corp will be making a public response to what Mr. Satan has just said. At this time we don't know what the response from Mrs. Briefs will be, but I can tell come Monday morning everyone will be glued to their TV sets."

Bulma turned off the TV. Everyone looked at her, all wondering the same thing: what is she going to do? However Gohan saw a small smile on Bulma's face; the type of smile she would get just before coming up with the next big scientific innovation.

"I must say," Chichi said, shocked about what had just happened."If I didn't know any better I would say he was intentionally trying to make the world hate Capsule Corp. It also seemed like a personal attack against you, Bulma."

"Oh, it was," Bulma said casually. Seeing the confused looks on everyone's faces, she went on to explain. "I don't think he is at all worried about who the satellite belongs to – he is just trying to get back at me." "Get back at you … why?" Gohan asked, just as lost as Chichi and Vegete were.

"You guys remember I had that special gathering last week with a bunch of important people?" They all nodded silently ready for her to continue. "Hurcule was there, and throughout it, he kept looking at me in a less-than-appropriate way."

"I'll make him rue the day he looked at you like that!" Vegete said, half way out of his seat, ready to pay Hurcule a visit.

"You will do no such thing!" Bulma threw in, forcing Vegete to retake his seat. "Anyways, as I was saying, he was looking at me in a very inappropriate way. Going up to him, I asked him kindly to stop looking at me in such a vulgar way. However he continued to do it so at the end of the day I informed him that he was no longer welcome near Capsule Corp property or he would be removed. I guess this is just his way to try and get back at me."

"So what are you going to do, come Monday?" Chichi asked.

"I have a few ideas as to how to make Hurcule think twice about attacking me like that, but first I have to talk to Gohan."

"About what?" Gohan asked, surprised by Bulma's statement. "It's you he's after. I don't know what I can do."

"Well it's about the satellite and whether you want to turn it over. I mean, you know what's on it." Gohan looked shocked for a moment. He had forgotten about everything that had been recovered: almost his dad's entire life.

Gohan thought about it for a moment. Right then, he didn't care if it came out that he had been the one to take down Cell. However, he realized that at the same time, it would be revealing everyone else as well. He couldn't do that to his friends. Gohan knew that they valued their privacy just as much as he did. Not sure how to answer, he voiced his concern and was surprised by the answer.

"Gohan, we never did tell you this, but a couple days after the Cell Games, the whole gang was here getting ready to go confront Hurcule for taking your credit. We were just about to go when Piccolo stopped us, reminding us that it was you who won and it should be your desertion. We were going to ask you but we saw you were grieving so we figured that you would say something if you cared about the credit. You never did say anything about it, so we just let the whole matter drop and got on with our lives."

"I see," Gohan said clearly taken aback by this. If he hadn't been so busy beating himself up about his father's death, he could have taken the credit for Cell's death; he could have made the world see that Hurcule was lying about their techniques being tricks. Gohan felt bad that because of him, they were considered tricksters instead of warriors.

Gohan wanted to make things right, and was about to tell them that, but then he thought of Videl. Sure, he hadn't known her long, but she was the closest thing to a friend he had. If he came out with it now how would it affect her? He couldn't just make this desertion while thinking only of himself.

"I still need to think about it a little," Gohan said, stalling for time so he could consult Videl.

"Sure thing," Bulma said. "I know this is a tough decision for you. Just let me know before Sunday night."

Gohan was glad he had a couple days to talk to Videl about it. But how was he going to ask her? 'Hi Videl, I was just wondering how you would feel if all of a sudden it came out that your dad didn't beat Cell and he has been lying for all these years?' Gohan knew he couldn't ask like that. He went back to his bedroom so he could think.

XXXxxxXXX 

Gohan sat down on his bed when he got in his room, he didn't know what to do. How was he going to ask Videl? When was he going to get a chance to ask her? Would she even believe him? Gohan ended up laughing at himself. He realized just how silly he was being. This was his chance to show the world that Hurcule was a fake and KI techniques were very real.

'I don't need to ask for Videl's permission,' Gohan thought. 'So what if she is Hurcule's pretty little daughter? It's his fault if things get rough for her. Wait, really, did I just think that? No, I couldn't have, but I did. I need to stop thinking about this. Fine, if I get a chance to ask her discreetly I will, but if not I'm going ahead with it anyways.'

Glad to have sorted that out, Gohan laid down, deciding to enjoy one of the magazines from under his bed. As he was getting one out he heard a beep. It was his phone telling him someone had texted him. Looking at the caller display, he fell apart again: it was Videl.

She had texted him to make sure they were still meeting up to talk tomorrow. Seeing how fate was trying to tell him to talk to her, he ended up just calling her, hoping that taking to her would help him figure how to ask her about 'it.'

"Hello," Videl answered.

"Oh, hi Videl. I just got your text and figured I'd call so we can plan where to meet."

"Ah, OK. Did you have anywhere in mind?"

"No. I don't even know my way around Satan City yet."

"Why don't we meet in the tourist district? There's signs every ware there so I'm sure you can find it. We can meet right outside the Hurcule action figure shop. It's the easiest place to find."

"I think I can manage that?"

"Good, so I will see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, tomorrow. Good. I need to talk to you." Gohan said that last part in a quiet voice, but Videl still heard him say it.

Gohan hung up the phone with that, not sure what would happen if he continued to talk to her. Laying back down, he heard his phone give another beep. It was Videl telling him to meet at 11 o'clock.

XXXxxxXXX

'That was weird,' Videl thought to herself. 'I didn't expect Gohan to call me like that. But I wonder if he's OK, he sounded a little off at the end there and then he just hung up. I'm not mad but it's the way he said it, as though he needed to talk to me. Oh well, come tomorrow I'm going to get all the answers I want. No more secrets Gohan, come tomorrow, you're mine.'

Videl had been walking around her room when Gohan called. She had just finished her own workout that she had recently started doing in secret after sparring with her dad. Sparring used to be all the workout she needed, but lately it wasn't enough. She would come out of the sessions having beaten her dad over half the time and she still had a lot of energy left.

Hurcule, however, looked like he was about to drop. She couldn't understand how he was the strongest person in the world, but after a few simple spars with her, he was done. Videl pushed the thoughts from her mind, moving into bed to get a good night's sleep. Her special training sessions really tired her out.

Lying in bed, she let her mind wander as she tried getting to sleep. She thought about what she was going to ask Gohan. She wanted to know who had trained him. The way he had survived the workout in gym and didn't look the least bit tired surprised her.

She remembered the scars that ran all over his body. 'How could someone get so beat up?' she started thinking. 'I train everyday and spar with my dad but the worst I have ever had is a good bruise. There must be something behind them.'

After musing about the scars, she refocused on the muscles themselves; the way they were clearly defined. She had never seen anything like it. No one at her father's gym had muscles like that, not even her dad. She continued to think about how smooth Gohan's skin looked, despite the scars, as she slowly drifted off to sleep. A good dream was sure to follow.


	5. Chapter 5

Bank Security 

Deep underground the electric hum of a computer could be heard. A large screen on one wall of the dark room came to life, displaying an array of data as the long-dormant system came back online.

"Contact with spy satellite Beta has been lost. Initiating backup procedure," a computerized voice said.

In the corner, beside the massive screen, a glass vessel began casting an eerie glow throughout the room. Through the bubbling fluid, contained in the large vessel, a single object could be seen. The brain was suspended in the fluid with wires extending from every region of its exterior.

"Commencing memory download," the computerized voice stated to the empty room. "Time to competition, six hours. Begin powering up main system." The screen now displayed a timer counting down from six hours and a long process bar marked "start up" underneath it. 

XXXxxxXXX

Videl woke up coved in sweat and breathing heavily. She had never had a dream like that before. It was so intense and felt so real to her. Untangling herself from her sheets, she sat on the edge of the bed, her breathing returning to a slow, steady rate. The clock next to the bed read 7am.

Videl went to her bathroom to get cleaned up. The relaxing hot water of the shower coaxed several images of her dream to surface. Slowly remembering the dream, Videl felt a torrent of emotions run through her. The dream replayed though her mind. She could remember herself standing next to Gohan like any other day, and then his shirt was gone. She stared at the finely sculpted muscles, not big and disproportioned like a body builder's, but clearly toned to suite a fighter.

Biting on her lip, Videl tried to suppress the remainder of her memory. 'I can't believe I had a dream like that,' Videl thought. 'And it was about Gohan. How could I have a dream like that about him?! He's just a geek, a nerd! There's nothing special about him, but why do I have these feelings?' An image of Gohan's bare chest flashed in her mind. 'He's just a guy, and guys only like me so they can get to my father. But Gohan's not like that, is he?'

Stepping out of the shower, Videl pushed these unsettling thought out of her mind. She was just going to spend some time with Gohan today and get some answers out of him. Nothing like what happened in her dream was going to happen today. She got dressed and had breakfast before enjoying her morning workout.

XXXxxxXXX

Gohan's dreams were very different from Videl's. His mind created a world where everyone knew the truth. The fame that Hurcule flaunted around was his. It was nice at first: people acknowledged what he had done and respected him for it. However, it soon became a nightmare with reporters everywhere he went. At one point in his dream, he looked in a mirror and had grown an afro.

Needless to say, Gohan awoke in a state similar to Videl, although the reasons behind it were very different. Glancing at his clock, he got out of bed and went to the gravity room. He knew that Vegeta would be in it, but at the moment he could use a sparring partner. Stepping through the door, he was greeted by a cheerful Vegeta.

"What do you want, Brat?" Vegeta spat, stopping his training.

"I didn't sleep well so thought I'd have a little workout to wake me up."

"Well, I'm using the gravity room now; come back later when I'm not here."

"I figured you'd say something like that," Gohan said as a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "However, I'm not asking to use the room. I am using the room."

With those words, Vegeta was on the attack, needing to defend his pride. Gohan knew he would react in this way and was ready for the attack. He quickly blocked the first round of attacks, a stunning fury expressed with kicks and punches.

Gohan let Vegeta advance the offensive for a while as he got warmed up, and got ready to advance their little skirmish to a new level. As Vegeta threw a punch at his head, he countered by ducking and quickly coming up with an uppercut to Vegeta's chin. The enraged prince changed into his Super Saiyan form and advanced once more.

Gohan was still able to hold his own in base form; however he was now getting hit every now and then. The battle carried on for a good half hour before Gohan moved up to Super Saiyan as well. This caused the battle to fall more in Gohan's favor. After another half an hour the two were still at it, and neither was showing signs of slowing down. Once more they powered up, reaching the next level of Super Saiyan.

Vegeta had not seen Gohan fight since the day of the Cell Games, and was both impressed and shamed by how well the kid was fighting. 'I knew he was training but I never imagined he would have gotten this strong,' Vegeta thought to himself. 'I know I'm starting to get tired, but it looks like Gohan is still only getting started. How had he done it? I am the prince of all Saiyans, and as such I should be the strongest, the elite of my race. But this half breed child has grown stronger than me … how?'

Vegeta tried putting anger into his attacks but they still only had a minimum effect on his opponent. The battle had been raging for almost two hours now, and Gohan was starting to get hungry. He had enjoyed their little spar as it had helped him burn off some steam. Wanting to end the fight without making Vegeta feel too bad, which would be by knocking him out, Gohan tried to verbally end the fight.

"Vegeta, why don't we end the fight here? I'm starting to get hungry."

"You will finish what you started. The only way out of this room is if you beat me or I drag your unconscious body out," Vegeta's Saiyan pride said for him.

Gohan figured that would be the answer, but had to at least try the nice way first. Vegeta felt a sudden flare of energy. Never before had he felt power like this. Vegeta didn't feel the energy for long, as his world quickly turned to darkness.

Gohan was nice enough to drag Vegeta's unconscious body to the medical room and put it on one of the beds, before getting cleaned up and going for something to eat.

Vegeta regained consciousness at about 10:30 and headed for the living room, ready to pick up his fight with Gohan where it had left off. Storming into the room, he focused his attention on Gohan and began yelling, ignoring the other people in the room.

"Brat, get changed and meet me in the gravity room in five minutes. I'll teach you a lesson for ending the fight like that."

"Sorry Vegeta, but I have more important things to do than knock you out again." With that statement, Gohan took to the skies, heading towards Satan City.

"Where does he think he's going?" Vegeta said, more to himself than the people around him, and was not expecting an answer.

"He's meeting up with a girl from school," Chichi said with a very happy and excited voice.

"A girl, I see; that explains it."

"What is that supposed to mean? And why are you challenging Gohan to a fight?" Bulma asked, surprised by the whole scene in front of her. However, her questions were left unanswered as Vegeta retreated from the room with a smirk.

XXXxxxXXX

Gohan took his time flying to Satan City. He hadn't intended on leaving so early, but he didn't want to deal with Vegeta anymore. Landing where he usually did, near the train station, he walked the rest of the way to the tourist district.

As he walked around the area, he couldn't help but notice how right Videl was about finding the action figure store. Almost everywhere he looked there was either a poster on a phone pole or a sign pointing to the shop. With all the signs pointing the way, it only took him about five minutes to find the place once he entered the tourist district.

Gohan arrived in front of the store at about five to eleven and was glad to see Videl already standing there. He waved at her and walked up with a pleasant smile on his face. She smiled back and they exchanged some common greetings before walking off along the crowded streets.

"How are you today?" Gohan asked, trying to start a conversation.

"I'm good, and I see you are in a better mood then yesterday morning."

"Well I talked things out with my mom and we came to an understanding."

"Glad to hear that. Anyways, why don't we start where we left off yesterday? Just how well do you know Bulma Briefs?" Videl asked the question, wanting to get right down to the point. Gohan looked around and had a worried look on his face when he turned to Videl.

"It's really crowded on the street here and I don't really want anyone to overhear us."

"Don't worry about it. The only way these people would give you a second look was if you had an afro like my father's." Gohan tried to suppress a laugh as he remembered his dream from that night.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just that I had a dream last night where I looked in a mirror and had a huge afro."

"Ha, that's hilarious; I wish my dream could have been more like that."

"So what did you dream about?"

"None of your business," Videl replied angrily as she turned red thinking about it.

"OK, fine. I won't ask. How about we sit down in that park and talk?"

"Works for me."

The two wandered their way through the park until they came to a bench just off to the side of the path. Videl's face was a pure expression of excitement. She was finally going to get some answers. Gohan sat down a little apprehensively. He still wasn't sure he wanted to let his secrets out and also how would he ask about reviling the truth about Cell?

"Enough stalling, Gohan – let's hear it."

"Fine, let me see, how should I put it? Well, I guess the simple answer is that Bulma is my godmother. She's known me since I was a baby."

"Wait, how is it that Bulma became your godmother?"

"She met my father back when they were teens, before she became famous. They did some traveling together and became really good friends."

"OK, so why don't you want people to know that you are almost related to her?"

"You of all people should know what it's like to be related to someone famous. My family likes its privacy, so we just never said anything about it, and Bulma understands this, so she never says anything about her close friends."

"I can understand that. The press can be a huge pain in the ass. They're always sneaking around our house. Some days I just wish that the world would leave my dad and our family alone, but he just had to go and become the strongest man on the planet by beating Cell. I'm starting to rant again aren't I?"

"Just a little, but it's alright. It's always good to get things off your chest."

"Right, so tell me, when did you start learning martial arts and who taught you?"

"Like I said yesterday, I started when I was four. A friend of my dad's trained me."

"I'm surprised your parents let you start training when you were four. Isn't that a little young?"

"Well at the time my dad had gone off to explore the world and he left me with his friend. This guy was a fighter so he just started to train me while he was doing his own training."

"But what about your mom? Why didn't you just stay with her?" Gohan started to panic a little at this question. He didn't want to tell Videl that he was actually kidnapped so he could be trained to fight off an alien attack. Doing his best to get away from this topic, he said the only thing he could think of.

"I don't really know. I was only four at the time so I didn't know what was going on. Say, how about we go get something to eat? It's just about noon now."

"Sure, I could go for some food." Videl had a feeling that he was not telling the whole truth, but decided to let it go since he was telling her something.

They got up from the bench and walked the path back through the park and out to the crowded streets. Neither of them seemed to know where they were going, but they kept walking in silence as they wandered around. It was Gohan's stomach that finally broke the silence.

"Do you know anywhere good to eat around here?"

"I think there is a little restaurant just a couple blocks away. Let me just run into the bank over there so I can get some money out."

They walked up the steps to the bank and headed for the bank machines just inside the doors. For being so close to the tourist district, the bank wasn't too busy, and there was no line-up at the bank machine. Gohan was standing next to Videl as she stepped up to the machine and made her withdrawal.

They were heading back towards the door when three men in ski masks came charging in. The man in the lead had an automatic rifle slung over his right shoulder. He yelled out that "This is a robbery! Everyone on the ground!" Pointing the gun above everyone's head, the man began firing, taking out the surveillance cameras in the process.

Only about half the people were on the ground when the other two men, with hand guns, moved off to either side of the room and started forcing the remaining people to the ground. The trio thought they had gotten everyone on the ground and turned around to make sure the door was secure. To their surprise they found both Gohan and Videl still standing with shocked expressions on their faces.

Once more the man with the machine gun was in the lead, walking towards the two teens. Videl quickly dropped to the floor. 'What should I do?' Videl was thinking. 'I know I'm good at martial arts but I'm only fourteen; well, almost fourteen. I'll just stay on the ground and do what they say and pray I make it out alive.'

Videl looked over at Gohan, expecting him to be on the ground next to her, but she was surprised to see him still standing as the men slowly approached him. Videl assumed he was just in shock and couldn't move his body properly. The three men advanced toward him, making the same assumption.

When the man with the machine gun got about a step away from Gohan, Videl noticed a sudden change in his expression. Videl watched as all emotion left Gohan's face, leaving a dark expression that almost scared her. The man advancing on Gohan began to take a step away from the kid when he saw the change in his face, but it was too late.

Moving forwards, Gohan shot his left hand out, grabbing the front of the machine gun and pushed the muzzle out of the way as he spun into the man. He hit the man in the chest with his right elbow, then dropped the gun as he turned to deliver his left elbow to the gunman's head. The two hits were enough to knock the man out cold.

The two other robbers raised their guns and fired at Gohan. He saw this happening and used the unconscious man's body as a shield. The two men had unloaded half their ammo before realizing they were shooting their own man. Lowering their guns, the men ran towards Gohan. The two were distracted and surprised as Gohan throw the unconscious man at them. Before either of them could recover, Gohan appeared in front of them, delivering simultaneous punches to their stomachs.

All three robbers lay unconscious on the ground in less than ten seconds. Throughout the exchange, Videl was unable to blink. She was in a state of both shock and awe at what Gohan had just done. Never before had she seen someone move like that; with such precision and grace. It was like watching an action movie where the scene has been choreographed and planned for weeks.

The people in the bank soon concluded that it was safe to get up. Videl was among the first to get up and as soon as she was on her feet she felt Gohan's hand grab her wrist and pull her out the door at a slow run. The two continued to run for a few blocks until they were well away from the bank. As they slowed to a walk an awkward silence built around them; both wanted to say something but neither of them wanted to start. Once again it was Gohan's stomach that broke the silence.

"So where did you say that little restaurant was?" He asked sheepishly, hoping Videl wouldn't go completely nuts about what had just happened.

"Seriously, food? You just took out three armed gunmen and all you can think about is food."

"Well, I always get hungry after something like that."

"Are you saying that you've done that before?"

"No, I just mean I get hungry after a workout."

"The restaurant is just over there, but you better tell me what happed back there."

"Fine, let's just get some food."

The two headed into the little restaurant and, to Gohan's relief, were seated off in a quiet corner with no one around them. The two returned to silence once again after the waitress took their order. Videl was going over every detail of the encounter in her mind. She thought that the guys that robbed the bank must be professionals considering how well they executed their entrance. In less than a minute the men had everyone on the ground or almost everyone, the cameras had been taken out and they were double-checking their exit before even trying to get to the money.

She then went through the physical exchange with Gohan. She still couldn't believe he had done that. She tried to go through each move he had made but his movements were so fast and precise she wasn't sure she had caught everything he had done. Running it through her mind one more time, she tried carefully reviewing what had happened.

'First he moved forward and knocked the gun out of the way. Then he spun around and hit the man in the head. Just as the other men were about to fire he used the unconscious man as a human shield.' Her train of thought was broken as she came to the realization that one of the men had been shot.

"Gohan, that one robber got shot when you used him as a shield. He's probably dead; the guys put a good six, seven shots in him." Videl was about to get up and run back to the bank but Gohan simply raised a hand at her indicating to just sit down.

"Don't worry," Gohan said as Videl reclaimed her seat. "The guy I used as a shield was wearing a bulletproof vest." Videl visibly calmed when he said this but she had to ask, "How did you know he was wearing a bulletproof vest?"

"I felt it when I elbowed him."

"But you elbowed him in the head; how could you have felt it?"

"The elbow to the head was the second hit I gave him; the first was to his chest."

Videl replayed the scene over in her head again but still couldn't see the first elbow blow. She was very shocked by this since she had seen her dad fight in the past and no matter how fast he was going she was able to see every move and hit he made. It was then that she noticed, despite beating up three guys bigger than him, Gohan didn't seem tired or out of breath at all.

Videl was going to start asking questions, but just then the food arrived. Looking at the way Gohan was digging in, Videl knew there was no hope of getting any information out of him until he was done eating. She dug into her own plate of food and found that she too was surprisingly hungry.

When the food was gone, the two paid their bills and hit the street once more. Videl really wanted answers but at the same time she didn't want to upset Gohan, considering he didn't like answering her questions and he had probably saved her life for the second time that week. They turned a corner onto a fairly deserted street when Gohan broke the silence.

"About the bank robbery," Gohan stated out of the blue. "I was kind of hoping we could try not to let anyone know it was me. I know I will probably be found out sooner or later but if you know, if like someone asks you about it could you try not to mention me." Gohan started tripping on his words halfway through but Videl understood what he meant.

"Sure, I can do that."

"Thanks."

"Not a problem, I know all too well what it's like being the center of attention. I wish my dad had the same kind of humility you do."

"What do you mean by that? I'm sure he would have stopped the robbers if he had been there."

"Well yeah he would have stopped the robbers, but unlike how you just wanted to get out if there afterwards, he would have stayed. He would have waited until the news crews came and then he would give them a play by play of what he did so the whole world would know how great he is."

"I get it."

"Good. Don't tell anyone this but every day I wish someone else had beaten Cell just so I wouldn't have to put up with the way my dad acts now."

The two chuckled at that. Videl chuckled because she thought of it as an impossible dream and Gohan laughed for the obvious ironic reason. As the laughter stopped, Gohan saw a chance to ask the question that had been bothering him all night.

"How would you feel if all of a sudden it was discovered that your dad hadn't actually beaten Cell?"

"I think that would be the best day of my life," Videl replied, thinking of it as something that would never happen, and Gohan could tell she wasn't thinking seriously about it.

"Are you sure you would like that? Think about how it would affect you. Sure your dad would lose all his fame and be condemned a lira for the rest of his life, but wouldn't that same shame be put on you?" Videl was surprised by this; she had thought Gohan was just joking but he was being serious.

"You know most people only ask questions like that as a joke, but I have had such horrible times with my father ever since the Cell Games that truly I wouldn't mind the effect it would have on me if it all changed tomorrow."

Gohan was overjoyed by this revelation. Any worry he had about releasing the satellite data over to the government was gone.

"I must say I had a lot of fun today Videl. I hate that I have to leave now."

"Why do you have to go? We only just finished lunch and there's still plenty of day left."

"I wish I could, but my mom has me on a very tight study schedule. Sorry."

"Well guess I'll see you on Monday then?"

"Yep, see you then," Gohan said as he started walking back towards the train station.

XXXxxxXXX

When Gohan touched down at Capsule Corp, he headed straight to the living room where he could feel Bulma's KI. He found her sitting on the couch reading a book. After what happened the day before with his mother, Gohan refrained from reading the title and took a seat in the recliner beside her.

"So how was your date?" Bulma asked, never one to beat around the bush.

"It wasn't a date. I was just meeting up with a friend from school to chat."

"And this friend was a girl, right?" Bulma said in more of an accusatory way.

"Yes she is but that doesn't mean it's a date."

Bulma chuckled at the sight of him red in the face and flustered from his reluctance to see it for what it was. Gohan found his composure and took a calming breath before bringing up the topic he had originally come to talk to her about.

"So about Monday; I'm fine with you releasing all the data over to the government."

"I'm glad to hear you say that. What changed your mind? It seemed like this was going to be a hard choice for you."

"Well the friend from school I was with is Hurcule's daughter. I knew that when we released the data Hurcule would become a laughingstock, and it would also affect Videl."

"So that's what the two of you were chatting about." Bulma said this with a suggestive smirk as though it wasn't the only thing they were talking about.

Gohan paled at the look on Bulma's face. He knew she was just kidding but was a little disappointed that she wouldn't let it go. Seeing Gohan's expression change for the worst, Bulma felt a little bad and tried to make him feel better.

"I'm only kidding, but I have to say that what you did was very considerate. Not many people would think about all the people affected in a situation like this and the way you handled it is just what your dad would have done."

The cheerful look on his face told Bulma that her plan had worked. Over the years she had discovered that nothing could cheer Gohan up more than to comment on how much like his father he was. However it was also true that most comments in general about his father would bring his mood crashing down.

"So, anything new or interesting to report?" Bulma inquired, moving the conversation away from Goku as fast as possible.

"Well actually, I had an idea for a new type of capsule yesterday."

"Oh, and what's so special about this new capsule?"

"The idea is that only the owner of the capsule can open it so whatever is inside it is safe from theft or prying eyes." Gohan added the last part as he thought about the original reason behind the private capsule.

"That's a good idea. As I'm sure you know at the moment all anyone needs to operate a capsule vehicle is the capsule. With this we can prevent theft because only the owner can then use the capsule. This is a great idea. How soon can you have plans drawn up?"

Gohan was shocked that his idea went over so well, considering the idea had originally been a way for him to hide his dirty magazines.

"I already have some rough plans drawn up but I think they still need some refinement. I can go and get the plans now if you want?"

"Don't worry about it right now. We can go over it all tomorrow. I'm fairly sure Chichi has some things for you to do today. Why don't you go and see if she needs anything?"

With that, Gohan left the living room and went to find his mother. He was not at all surprised to sense she was in the kitchen.

XXXxxxXXX

Videl found she was unable to go home after Gohan left. The excitement from the bank robbery was too much for her and she found herself walking back to the bank. The same part of her that was curious about Gohan was also curious about the bank.

At the bank, she found the entrance blocked off with police tape, and a few cop cars were still there. She made her way up to the police line to see if she could see inside the bank. There were a couple of detectives walking around the place looking at the location of cameras, where the hostages were, and the crime scene in general.

One of the detectives looked over and saw Videl looking in. He walked up to her, knowing that she had been there at the time of the robbery thanks to the bank machine's transaction record.

"Ms. Satan I'm glad to see you," the detective said as he approached her.

"And who might you be?"

"I'm one of the detectives looking into this attempted robbery."

"Have you found anything yet?" Videl asked trying to sound like she hadn't been there.

"Well I was hoping you could help me out a bit since you were here when it happened."

"According to the bank machine, you were here," he said before Videl could ask the question. "Anything to say for yourself?"

"If you mean the reason I left, it's because I got scared and just wanted to get away. But I'm back now to help however I can."

"Well then, can you tell me what you saw?"

"It all happened so fast. I had just gotten some money from the bank machine when the three men came in. The first man had an automatic machine gun and he shot out the cameras. The other two men only had hand guns and they came in after the cameras were shot out. They then went around and made sure everyone was on the ground. I was the last one standing at that point and I dropped to the ground when they turned to me. I don't know what happened after that. I just kept my eyes shut and hoped I'd get out alive."

Videl lied about closing her eyes, but it wasn't like anyone saw that she was looking, and this way she didn't have to say anything about Gohan. She knew he wouldn't like that she was lying, but it was the only way she could think of to avoid including his involvement.

"Do you remember anything about what might have happened when your eyes were closed? And how did you know it was safe to leave?"

"I remember hearing some gunshots, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. It was shortly after that that I looked up and saw the three men on the ground. I got up and ran for it at that point. I'm sorry I didn't see more."

"That was excellent. So far you're the only one who noticed the different guns the robbers were carrying. I'm glad you came back to give your statement."

"Not a problem, I just needed some time for my nerves to calm before I could come back here."

"Well thank you for your time."

"Not a problem."

With that, the detective walked back into the bank, leaving Videl to go about her day. She felt a little calmer now that she had seen the bank again but she still had a lot of pent-up energy to get rid of. Knowing how to deal with that energy, she headed home for a good long workout.

XXXxxxXXX

"All systems are online and the memory download is complete. What can I do for you Doctor?" The computerized voice said, now addressing a cloned brain of the long deceased Dr. Gero.

"Judging from my memories, there was a long period of time between the last upload and the death of the earlier Dr. Gero. Tell me computer, what happened with my androids and project Cell?"

"According to the last backup of the system, both projects are coming along as expected and are expected to be completed without setbacks. However, according to public records three years ago there were sightings of androids causing destruction all over the world. Apparently the attacks came to a sudden end just after large cities of people started to disappear. This was followed by the appearance of Cell, who challenged the strongest fighters of the world. It was during these Cell Games that Cell was destroyed."

"WHAT? How could my cell be defeated? He was made up of the strongest fighters in the universe. How was he destroyed?"

"According to the public records, it was a man by the name Hurcule Satan. He became the world martial champion after Goku and is still considered the strongest man in the world. Our scans, however, say his power level is only slightly higher than most humans."

"There is no way a man that weak could beat my creation. Get me General Tao. I think I need to have a word with this Mr. Satan."

XXXxxxXXX 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Gohan found himself struggling out of bed Monday morning. He had spent all day Sunday working with Bulma on his new invention and stayed up far too late for a school night. He managed to stumble out of bed and get dressed before making his way to the kitchen. At times like this his Saiyan appetite was the only thing that got him going.

He managed to make it to school just in time for his first class. Listening to the conversations in the hallway, he discovered that no one was talking about him and the gym class from Friday. The main topic of conversation was about Capsule Corp's reply to Hercule's demands. Gohan was glad that everyone had forgotten about what had happened in the gym class, and he was a little excited to find out what Bulma was going to say at her press conference.

Erase sat down beside Gohan and immediately struck up a conversation. "I hear that the school will be showing the press conference this morning. I think it will be interesting to see what they will do. As far as anyone is concerned Hercule has it right and they're trying to cover their asses. What do you think?"

Gohan took a moment to contemplate his answer. Despite the fact that he had spent all of yesterday with Bulma, not once had she mentioned the upcoming conference. Thinking on it, Gohan realised that for the most part she showed no signs that anything was bothering her. However, he knew that Bulma was going to make Hercule look like a fool, but he couldn't say that out loud, could he?

He was saved from replying right away as Sharpener sat down and asked what was up.

"I was just asking Gohan what he thought about the press conference that is going to happen this morning." Erase said.

"It's clear that Hercule's right. Capsule Corp is just trying to cover up for their mistakes. I'm not surprised that Hercule saw through them. It's just like how he saw through Cell's tricks and beat him with one hit."

Sharpener's response left Gohan with an uneasy feeling. After his time with Videl over the weekend he had forgotten just how much faith people put in the things that afro-wearing oaf said. The conversation was stopped with the entrance of the teacher. The class knew they would be watching the press conference and were all eager to find out when they would get to see it and find out what will happen.

"Good morning everyone: I trust you all had a good weekend. As you know, today the school will be allowing you all to see the press conference in which Capsule Corp will reply to the questions raised by our saviour Hercule. The conference will be starting in a little while but considering the number of interruptions we have had lately I expect all of you to get your books out and work on our current assignment. I don't want to hear talking outside of discussing the math problems you are working on. Now then, off to work."

There was a slight rumble of groans around the room: everyone was hoping they would be free to do as they liked until the start of the conference. The room quickly quieted as people started pulling out their books and began working on the math assignment for that week. Looking around the room, Gohan realised he was the only one who had finished the assignment already. Not sure what to do, he want up to the teacher.

"Ah Gohan, are you stuck on a problem?" The teacher asked when he saw him approach the front.

"Well actually I'm already finished the assignment."

"Then why don't you bring it down and I can point out any errors you might have made."

Gohan knew there were no errors in his answers but figured the teacher wouldn't believe that until he looked them over. He quickly walked up back to his seat and grabbed the work he had completed the other day. The teacher looked over it quickly, mumbling to himself.

"All the answers appear correct but you haven't shown your work so I can't tell how you got the answers. For all I know you just looked them up online." The teacher gave Gohan a questioning look that said, 'Did you look the answers up online?'

Understanding what the teacher meant, Gohan waved his hands in front of himself as he explained to his teacher.

"NO… no, I didn't look the answers up online; I just did the work in my head." Gohan's face was a little flushed as he said this, as he wanted the teacher to believe him. Although he often had to lie to keep the secrets of his life out of the public eye, he knew better than most the importance of hard work, and did not want to be thought of as a cheater.

"As much as I'd like to believe that Mr. Son, in all my years of teaching I have not met a single student who could do these equations in their head, and very few teachers as well. I'm afraid you will have to go back and write out your work."

"But that will take hours. Please let me show you I can do them in my head. Put any question like the ones from the assignment on the board and I will show you." Gohan was hoping with all his might that the teacher would go along with him. He didn't want to go back and write it all out.

"Ok, seeing how you got perfect scores on the entrance exam I'll give you a chance but if you are wasting my time I will be giving you a zero on the assignment, regardless of wither you show your work or not." With that the teacher got up, walked to the board, and began to write up a question that was harder than any of the ones that was on the assignment. 

The action at the front of the room began to be noticed by a few of the students who were not in the mood for math – or any other schoolwork for that matter. A few whispers later and the whole class was looking up to see what was going on. There were a few quick conversations that the so-called nerd wasn't as smart as everyone claimed he was. However those thoughts were quickly squashed.

The teacher noticed that no one was working on their assignments anymore and decided to let them in on what was happening.

"Seeing how none of you are actually doing any work, I may as well get you looking at this equation I've put on the board. Gohan here says that he did all the work for the assignment in his head, and that's why he hasn't shown it on the page. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and letting him show us that he can actually do it in his head. Well then Gohan; show us what you can do!"

At this point Gohan realized how silly it was to try and show how smart he was. All he ended up doing was draw more attention to him. However at this point there was no going back so Gohan decided to make the most of it.

He looked at the question for a moment and figured out the solution but at the same time realised the teacher had made a mistake while putting the question on the board. The only way to solve the question was to use a process that the class hadn't even been taught yet. However he decided to be on the safe side and give the answer for exactly what was on the board.

The teacher got an amused smile on his face when he told Gohan that his answer was wrong. Although when the teacher said what the answer was supposed to be Gohan spoke up.

"Sir, if you want that answer you have to change that negative to a positive in the question." Gohan said pointing to the mistake on the board.

The teacher looked over the equation on the board and saw the mistake Gohan was talking about. The teacher wasn't sure what to do. In all his years of teaching he had never been shown up by a student like this and didn't know what to do about it. He was about to respond to the class about the problem but was saved by an announcement over the school intercom.

"Good morning everybody," the voice of Mr. Plunder rang out. "The press conference will be starting shortly, would all teachers please turn your televisions on if you have not done so yet."

With that the announcement was over and Gohan's math teacher was moving over to the TV to turn it on. As the teacher was fiddling with the machine he looked back at Gohan and told him to see him at lunch. Gohan nodded his head in acknowledgement and subconsciously rubbed his belly, thinking about missing lunch.

The class quickly forgot about what had just happened at the front of the room when the teacher got the TV set to the right channel. The students could see an empty podium with microphones all across the front. The camera moved down a little and a reporter was standing there.

XXXxxxXXX

"I'm standing beside the place where the CEO of Capsule Corp, Bulma Brief, is about to speak in defense of her company, after questions were raised on Friday, by the one and only Hurcule Satan. The main point Mr. Satan made against Capsule Corp was that they were responsible for a satellite crash, in a middle school playing field, and that their quick action on the scene was to cover up that involvement.

Most experts are agreeing with Mr. Satan based on how quickly Capsule Corp responded to the scene and how they have yet to provide any information to the public or government. As we can see, Mrs. Briefs is making her way to the podium and soon all our questions should be answered."

The camera moved back to the podium where Bulma was just getting in place. Without a word the audience at the conference became silent so she could begin.

"Good morning. Thank you all for coming here today. The first thing I would like to say is that Capsule Corp had zero involvement with the satellite prior to it crashing in the field at Orange Star Middle School. As it stands I see no reason to comment further on that topic."

There was a large outburst from the reporters at the conference. They had all wanted answers to the speculations going around about the fast response and lack of updates on the remains of the satellite. Bulma merely stood there not saying another word until the bickering reporters stopped talking.

"As for the remains of the satellite: everything is being delivered to the government as I speak. Along with the remains, we are sending full reports on everything that was done with the satellite and all the data that was recovered and restored. The report details the process of our data restoration so all findings can be confirmed by the government's own experts."

The crowd around Bulma once again exploded with questions. This time they wanted to know what the recovered data was. There were also many shouts asking how they would know if the reports were truthful or not. As before, Bulma said nothing until the reports quieted down again. Without acknowledging the questions, she continued.

"Our team of data recovery experts were able to restore about ninety-five percent of the data and were able to discover several facts about the origin of the satellite. They determined that the satellite was approximately thirty years old and was designed as a surveillance satellite. Judging by the images recovered, this satellite was equipped with some of the most advanced technology of the time. Over the operating time of the satellite it captured several important events. I would like to show a few of them to you now."

The reports must have been too surprised to say anything, and an odd silence was maintained as a screen was raised behind Bulma. She narrated where the clips were from as things started out with clips from and old World Martial Arts Tournament. These were followed by clips of the attack on East City and the subsequent fight with the world special defence group. The clips showed a mix of close-up shots, where people's faces were very clear, to farther away shots, showing a large area.

The screen faded to black, giving the reporters a moment to digest what had just been displayed. If any of them thought that was the end of the surprise, they were quickly rebuffed by Bulma's next statement.

"As you have seen, the data recovered from the satellite shows some of the most shocking events in the last thirty years. What I have shown is a very small portion of what has been recovered. I will leave it to the government to both confirm the authenticity of the data but also to distribute the findings appropriately. There is, however, one more clip I would like to show, before ending this ridiculous press conference. This clip shows the end of the Cell Games."

The crowd was silent in anticipation of seeing the one mighty punch Hercule used to kill Cell. There was excitement buzzing through the air. Everyone remembered the moment when the live feed of the Cell Games was cut off while the Delivery Boy was still fighting Cell. The story that followed stated that the Delivery Boy was beaten by Cell and then Hercule stepped into the ring and defeated Cell with a single punch.

The clip started with Cell and the Delivery Boy facing each other. The crowd assumed this was the part where Cell would beat the Delivery Boy. The look of uncertainty and despair on the Delivery Boy's face only added to the onlooker's expectations that Hercule would step in and save the day.

The light of Cell's attack filled the screen as it powered up. The camera panned back until both opponents were visible again. Cell released his attack and in what seemed an instant to everyone watching the clip, the Delivery Boy met it with his own attack. As the minutes creped by, people were beginning to wonder when Hercule would step in.

The light radiating from the colliding attacks cased the camera to zoom out further, until all that could be seen of the competitors were small dots. The power struggle soon ended as the Delivery Boy's attack overpowered Cell's and the dot that represented him was engulfed by the light.

As the light faded, the camera focused onto the area where Cell had been standing but there was no trace of him there. The camera zoomed out to refocus on the Delivery Boy but by then he was being carried away by one of the other unknown fighters. With no other fighters left on the scene, the camera came to rest on the only moving person in the area: Hercule.

The world watched in shock as Hercule and the announcer talked while the camera guy went to the truck. Even though there was no sound from the clip, everyone knew what Hercule was saying when the announcer held the microphone out to him – "Yeah, I beat Cell."

XXXxxxXXX

Videl sat in a state of shock as she watched the clip come to an end. She had dreamed of this event so many times but had never thought it would come true. Finally the day had come where her dad was no longer the great hero that defeated Cell. This could be the start of a new chapter of her life where her father has to give up the drinking. This could be the best day of her life.

Despite her joy at this turn of events she was beginning to feel uncomfortable as the eyes of her classmates drilled into her. Videl looked around the room trying to find something to stare at and avoid eye contact with anyone. During her search she caught a glimpse of Gohan's face and had to do a double take. Like her, he was trying his best to not look at anyone in the room.

'Why is he trying to hide his face? It's not like this has anything to do with him.' Videl thought this as she tried getting a look at him. It was while she was staring at him that he looked in her direction and shyly looked away again.

'He's not avoiding the class: he's avoiding me. That question from Saturday … did he know this was going to happen? I know he is close to Bulma, but would she really let him in on this? Would she? No, he couldn't know this. But why is he avoiding me?'

Videl was brought out of her thoughts as the teacher turned off the TV. "Well now that all of that is over with, I want everyone to get back to their work." Following true teenage form, the students became quiet and pulled out their work for all of two minutes before the whispers started to fly.

"Can you believe that? Hercule is such a fake," one student whispered to his friend.

"I bet Capsule Corp made that up just because Hercule was right about the satellite," a student on the other side of the class said to the kid next to him.

Gohan, with his heightened hearing, felt bad about the words flying around the class. He didn't care so much that Hercule was getting smashed but he knew it was only a matter of time until they turned on Videl. Although he had only known her less than a week, he had found her to be nothing like her father. As far as he was concerned she was a very nice person that worked hard and did her best to live up to the image of her father—not the true liar he was.

The class soon came to an end and everyone headed off. Just as Gohan was walking out the door, his teacher called him back for a moment to remind him of their meeting at lunch time. Gohan's stomach responded with a growl at the reminder.

XXXxxxXXX

Throughout the next class the whispers had mostly been directed at Hercule and Capsule Corp. However, every now and then someone would say something about Videl being the daughter of "that fake." Gohan felt a pang of guilt each time someone talked about Videl; he knew it was all his fault this was happening. If he had wanted he could have gotten Bulma to cover everything up, but it was time for Hercule to be put in his place.

Gohan was given a small reprieve from hearing these conversations during his little meeting with his math teacher. He got a lovely lecture about how it is inappropriate to point out mistakes that a teacher makes regardless of the situation. He also learned that despite his skills with mental math, he would still be required to go back and show his work.

The meeting only lasted half of the lunch period, to Gohan's joy. He had enough time to enjoy his lunch and chat with his new group of friends. Although the little group of students were outside eating lunch, Gohan could still hear people talking about Hercule, and a larger quantity of them were involving Videl. He had decided to do his best to tune it out.

With lunch ending, the little group headed off to one of their favourite classes: history. Everyone was excited because they would finally be getting the topics for their end of term history assignment. The students had been expecting to get the topic before the weekend so they would get the weekend to build groups and pick which topic to do, but unexpected events had gotten in the way.

Mr. Smyth came in with a large smile on his face. "Well, that was an interesting morning, to say the least. So it's time for the moment you have all been waiting for: assignment topics. I had them all planned out last week but due to current events, I have decided to do something different. In light of the spy satellite being about thirty years old, I have decided that either on your own or in a small group you will pick an event in the last thirty years and research it. I think it would be really interesting if you ended up picking an event that was recorded by the satellite. I am going to give you guys a few minutes to pick an event and get into groups if you so desire."

The classroom became a flurry of action and noise as the students started talking to their friends, trying to think of an easy event to cover. One event that a lot of people were starting to consider was the Cell Games, seeing how it wasn't that long ago and there was lots of information on it. The teacher caught wind of the large number of students thinking about that topic and tried to add some diversity to the class.

"I hear a lot of you talking about the Cell Games and it is with in the criteria but I will say now that I only want two people or groups looking into them. If you are stuck for an idea you could pick something from the clips you saw this morning. Let's see, who can tell me where the clips from this morning came from?"

"The first clips were from an old World Martial Arts Tournament," Videl said, having been the first person to put up their hand. "Who can tell me where the second clip was from?" the teacher continued.

There was a pause for a moment until Gohan put his hand up. "It was from the attack on East City."

"Very good you two," Mr. Smyth said. I don't normally assign groups for this project but I would like you two, Gohan and Videl, to be one of the groups looking at the Cell Games. I would like you to focus your research on the unknown fighters that showed up. I have a feeling that there is going to be a lot more information on them coming into the world soon."

Gohan really didn't want to look into the Cell Games on account of having been to them and watched his dad die there. However, at least it would be an easy topic for him since he knew all about the mystery fighters. Videl, on the other hand, was absolutely pissed about this: first because she had wanted to look at the World Martial Arts Tournaments, and second, she hated how the Cell Games had changed her life. Her viewpoint changed where she remembered that it had just been shown this morning that her dad actually hadn't won.

After a few more minutes the students had made there groups and picked a variety of topics. To Videl's surprise, one group had picked the downfall of the Red Ribbon Army as their topic. Another had decided to look into the event of King Piccolo. By the end almost every group had picked a topic that related to either Goku or the Z Fighters in some way.

"So Videl, how do you want to tackle the assignment?" Gohan asked, not knowing himself where to start.

"Since we're looking at the mystery fighters, let's see what we know. There were eight of them. Only two of them actually fought against Cell. What do you know about it?"

'I actually know everything about the mystery fighters,' Gohan wanted to say, but he couldn't say that, so he went with what Bulma told him at the time. "I don't know much, mostly what you just said. I never really thought about the mystery fighters after the games; I was just glad Cell was gone."

"Seeing how we don't know much, let's break down the research a little. How about you try to find an old news article that talks about the fighters and I'll see if I can find a picture of them. Hopefully the article will help direct our future research and with the picture we might recognise one of them if we come across them during the search."

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea. I'll see what I can find by tomorrow and then we can focus on what to write about."

With that the class came to an end and the students headed off to their next classes. Everyone heading to gym was excited because it was the martial arts unit. By the end of it everyone would know where they fit in the school in terms of their fighting skills. This was a very important ranking for the students in this city.

As bored as Gohan was with the class, he was glad that all they were doing was working on punching and blocking. He was also happy that nobody mentioned what had happened on Friday. He assumed that everyone forgot about it in all the excitement of the satellite crash and everything, but in actuality all the guys had agreed to never mention Gohan's physical merits because none of them could have had a chance of measuring up.

At the end of the day Gohan was glad to be on his way to Capsule Corp to do some proper training. He was finding that sitting at school made him more restless than when he used to study under the iron pan of his mother.

XXXxxxXXX

As he was coming into land he was glad to sense that Vegeta was nowhere nearby, which meant the gravity room would be free for him to work off some steam. However, on his way to it he got pulled away by Bulma.

"Hey Gohan, come with me for a moment. I have something to show you."

Gohan followed Bulma as she led him to one of her work rooms. He looked around trying to figure out what she wanted. His eyes landed on one of the screens which appeared to be paused on a news report. The heading in the screen read "Failed bank robbery a mystery."

"What's up Bulma?" Gohan asked, having guessed what the report was about.

"Not much, just wondering if you know anything about a bank robbery that was stopped by a mysterious person?"

"I might know a bit but I don't know if you want to hear it."

"I thought you might say something like that. However, I'm not really concerned about it. This is mostly a heads-up for you that your mom will probably make the same connection when she sees this report. I hope you have a plan for dealing with her."

"I'll keep that in mind. Anything else you need?"

"No, just giving you a heads-up."

With that, Gohan headed back in the direction of the gravity room. He wasn't worried about his mom's reaction to the report. She know that he only did what he thought was right and in the end no one got hurt so there should be no problem. He continued on to the gravity room and had a good workout to release his built-up energy from school. He emerged a few hours later for dinner and was glad that his mother had nothing to say about the bank robbery.

XXXxxxXXX

After the press conference, Videl was a little quieter than normal, not that anyone really noticed. She hadn't let on to her friends but the constant whispers and conversations about her and her dad were getting to her. It wasn't so much what they said about her dad, but she didn't like being compared to him. She wasn't surprised by people's reactions; she was mad at how her dad could let this situation happen. Needless to say when she got home she was anything but quiet.

"DAD, WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT THIS MORNING?! YOU LIED ABOUT THE CELL GAMES! DO YOU REALIZE HOW THIS AFFECTS NOT JUST YOU BUT ME AS WELL?!" Videl yelled as soon as she entered the house.

"Sweet Pea," Hercule said calmingly. "What's with all the yelling, honey?"

"What's with all the yelling, you say! Do you have any idea of what my day has been like ever since the press conference this morning?"

"I know what you're talking about, but I promise you it's all a lie. That whole thing was completely fake, trust me, in a few days it will be discovered that it was all a lie."

"You promise?"

"Don't worry, it will all be over soon, now go do whatever it is you like to do."

Videl stormed off to her room; she knew when her dad wasn't being completely honest. She got changed and went to the gym. This whole day had her completely frazzled and she just needed something to hit. The only part of the day that seemed to go well was planning her history assignment with Gohan.

Her workout lasted a few hours and she found herself calmer at the end of it. She found something to eat before going to work on her history assignment. Looking at the photos of the games gave her some excellent shots of the mystery fighters. She found herself looking at the Delivery Boy. He looked like a kid the same age as her at the time. One of the few confirmed things about the mystery fighters was that that boy did fight Cell.

If the clip they saw that day was true that would mean that a little boy was the one to beat Cell. The thought was unimaginable: how could a little boy be stronger than her dad, let alone Cell? Videl wondered how such strong fighters could come out of nowhere. "Maybe if I show these pictures to Sharpener and his group looking at the old World Martial Arts Tournament they will find a match," Videl thought out loud.

She was somewhat content on her way to bed that night, happy about how the assignment was coming along. However, part of her couldn't shack the thought of a kid, her age, going against Cell. 'At the bank robbery I was completely useless, if it hadn't been for Gohan.' That thought ran through her head and she was shocked. 'I guess there are kids my age that know how to stand up against people stronger than them.'

XXXxxxXXX

"Mercenary Tao, I'm glad you responded so promptly, I have a job for you."

"Its been so long Dr. Gero, I always enjoyed working for the Red Ribbon Army, they were very good about paying for my services. I assume you feel the same way?"

"Of course, I pay for results so long as things get done. I will be glad to pay your fee."

"Very good, what would you like me to do? Robbery, hijacking, assassination, a good kidnapping?"

"I think a hostage situation would be the best for what I need. You see my last plan was foiled by that Hercule Satan. I'd like to make him pay."

"What would you like?"

"I want you to go to his daughter's school and hold it hostage."

Gero continued his plan with Tao; they picked the day for it to happen and settled on the fee for it. It was time for Gero to get his revenge on the man that defeated his ultimate weapon.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next couple weeks went by smoothly for Gohan. He went to school and did his best to stay under the radar during his classes. The only problems were when he fell asleep during a couple of lectures that covered material he had known for years. However much Gohan was enjoying his week at school, he couldn't help but feel bad for Videl.

Each day became worse than the one before as rumors started to grow. Reporters started out at her home ambushing her father every chance they got. Hercule's response was the same each time: that the whole thing was a lie and he had defeated Cell. Since the reporters couldn't get anything out of Hercule, they went after Videl.

It was then that the reporters started to show up at her school, trying to get comments about what happened. Although Videl was good at giving them the slip, their constant presence was beginning to wear on her. Everyone that knew Videl could see her patience slipping. One boy had the audacity to hit on her. Needless to say his voice wouldn't be dropping for a while longer.

The media had taken several angles on the events over the week. There were some that supported Hercule, while others supported Capsule Corp. At any time you could flick through channels and find a show looking at the life of Hercule, the Cell Games, or the press conference. Gohan had watched a program that tried to explain how the mystery fighters did all their tricks. He had to admit some of the explanations were hilarious.

The history assignment was moving along well. Gohan had found an article that made some very outlandish claims about the mystery fighters. Gohan hoped that this would help direct the research away from the truth. So far their searching had been leading them off to dead ends, and Gohan was happy about that. Although he had decided it was okay to reveal that Hercule hadn't defeated Cell, he still wasn't too keen on being discovered as the one who actually did it.

Despite Gohan's efforts to mislead their research, he was unaware that Videl had asked Sharpener to keep an eye out for the fighters while he looked into the world martial arts tournaments. So far he was still looking at the Twenty First Tournament, and hadn't seen anyone that looked like the guys in the pictures. Videl was feeling kind of discouraged about how her research was going. She had hoped to find a solid lead by this point, but still nothing seemed to click for her.

"Are you sure about this, Gohan? I find it hard to believe that the fighters we're looking at are actually actors."

"You said that we should try looking at where the tricks came from; and according to that special I watched the other day, the tricks are based in the Peking Opera. The only people that would know them then are related to actors from there." Gohan was glad he had watched that silly program because it gave him a plethora of false leads to explore.

"I know what you mean, but it still sounds ridiculous to me. And how are we supposed to get a good mark on this if we can't find any actual information on those crazy people?" Videl's response was a little on the loud side, considering how frustrated she had been lately – and her comment did not go unnoticed by their teacher.

"Gohan, Videl, would you two please come here for a moment," Mr. Smyth called from his desk at the front of the room.

"I know that this is a hard topic to cover," their teacher started when they got down to the front. "I understand that you're not having much luck with finding the answers you want, but I think I should remind you that even experts still don't know a solid thing about the mystery fighters. Keeping that in mind, I want you to focus your report on the areas you researched and why. I overheard Mr. Son mention the Peking Opera. If you wanted you could write your whole report on how you were led there and why it is a plausible area to research. I know you're under a lot of stress right now, Videl, and I don't want you to think that the only way to do well in my class is to unmask the mystery fighters. Okay guys, now go and search whatever crazy lead you find. There's a reason I asked you two to look into this topic."

With that little pep talk, they returned to their seats and started looking over what they had found so far. Videl was starting to notice that every direction they went seemed to lead to a dead end and was getting tired of it. She did her best to keep her cool, seeing how they already had more than enough material to complete a report based on what the teacher wanted. However, she wanted at least something solid to say about the fighters. Hoping to get some better news about research, Videl turned to Sharpener.

"Hey, how's the research coming along, Sharpener?"

"Not bad, I'm finding the twenty first tournaments to be really interesting. Did you know that second place of that tournament went to this twelve-year-old kid? He was younger than we are now and still made it to the finals."

"I heard about that once, apparently he finally won in the twenty-third tournament. Although my dad said he was just a trickster that didn't have any real strength."

"Speaking of strength, are you excited for the tournament in gym class today? I wonder if there's anyone that can beat you this year."

"What tournament?" Gohan asked, popping in on their conversation.

"That's right, you wouldn't know about it," Videl started. "Well, every year during the martial arts unit there is a tournament to see who the strongest in the school is. Today, each class competes to find their strongest three and tomorrow all the winners compete to see who the strongest is."

"Last year Videl came in first; nobody else in our grade came close to winning."

"Well looks like it's time to see if there is anyone that can give Videl a run for her money," Gohan said, pointing out that class was about to end.

XXXxxxXXX

"I think you might have a shot at winning this thing," Sharpener said to Gohan as they were changing for gym. "Like look at you, you're built like a tank. Even if you don't have any skill I bet you'll at least make the top three today."

"I don't know," Gohan wasn't sure he wanted to be known for his strength at school. "I think you've got a better shot at it than me," he replied politely.

The class lined up in gym and got started with some stretching and a light warm up of running and practice moves. They were then directed to a board that the teacher had already set up, showing the first round pairings for the tournament.

"Okay class, I've paired you up based on how you have been doing the last couple of days. I have set it so the people I think are most likely to make it the end won't meet until further along. Now let's get started."

The first rounds went by quickly, just as expected by the students. Gohan was surprised by how well the teacher set up the matches. Except for a few clearly mismatched pairings, most competitors were close to the same level. Along with the pairings being close in strength they were almost all boy-boy or girl-girl. The only one that wasn't was where Videl was fighting one of the jocks.

Gohan could tell from the first pairing that Mr. Richardson didn't think much about his ability. He wasn't surprised since he had practically tried to look bad in class. Gohan was up against a small and thin kid that would probably lose against most of the girls in their class. Although he had thought about losing, the little bit of Sayian pride he had wouldn't let him.

In the second round Gohan was up against a stockier opponent, but the outcome was the same. In this round, Videl was up against another girl and it was clear who the victor would be. In a couple of seconds Videl had her victim down on the ground, tapping out. Sharpener, on the other hand, was having a rough time in his match. It took a while and the class enjoyed watching it but in the end Sharpener crawled out on top.

The final rounds had some interesting match-ups as far as Gohan and the rest of the class were concerned. There was Videl going up against none other than Erase. Gohan had never thought of her as being physically strong and found himself quite impressed with how well she had done. Despite Erase's efforts, she found her way to the mat the same as all of Videl's other opponents.

Gohan was up against one of the big jocks (well, big for middle school). Up until now people thought that Gohan was just getting by on luck. This thought was squashed quickly as he won his match. Many of the girls were giving Gohan there scary lust eyes and he wanted nothing to do with it. In turn, the guys gave him a variety of dirty looks and a few gestures.

Last up was Sharpener. It was clear he was still a little tired from his last match, despite trying to hide it. He was up against a friend of his that trained at the same dojo. They had fought a few times before and the outcome could go either way. Each of them did their best but in the end fatigue won, and Sharpener lost. The final match ended on queue with the end of class, leaving Videl, Gohan and Max to go against the other finalists on Friday.

As Gohan made his way out of the school, he could hear the excitement of all the students who were ready to watch the tournament tomorrow. From what people were saying, Videl was the favourite, seeing how she won last year's tournament. Gohan was wishing his Sayian side hadn't taken over; he didn't want any attention and now tomorrow when he fought, he wasn't very well going to lose. By the end of the day tomorrow he was going to be known as the strongest kid in the school.

XXXxxxXXX

That evening, Bulma could tell something was bothering Gohan. She asked Chichi about it, but they were both at a loss. Over the last couple of years, the two women had noticed Gohan would get like this every now and then. Usually he would be fine after one of his mom's delicious meals, but even after dinner he was still looking down.

"What should we do?" Bulam asked while she was helping Chichi clean up after dinner. "Normally Gohan is happy as can be after one of your meals."

"I'm not sure. This usually happens around the anniversary of Goku's death, but that's not for a couple more months. Do you know anything that might cheer him up?"

"I think I might know something that will cheer him up but I'm not sure."

"What do you have in mind Bulma?"

Bulma went on to explain how she knew about the tournament at Gohan's school. Each year the school would contact Capsule Corp about getting a tour of their sports research facility for the finalists in the tournament. Bulma would always turn them down because she knew they only did the tournament because of Hercule.

"But, Bulma, doesn't Gohan know everything about Capsule Corp already?"

"He is aware of everything that we do but I don't think he has spent much time in the sports facility. Plus it gives him a break from school. I'm sure he's still getting used to it and could use a change in routine."

"And you're sure he is in the group that will be going?"

"Chichi, your son is probably the strongest person in the entire universe. His Sayian pride wouldn't let him lose. I should know: look who I married." With that, Bulma went off to make a few calls to set things up.

XXXxxxXXX

Videl was watching the news that night while looking over her history notes. She was trying to figure out a new direction for her research. After spending most of the week looking through pictures of Peking Opera performers, she had found no one that even closely resembled one of the mystery fighters. Only after looking into the tricks that the Peking Opera did, was Videl sure that there were no connections with what the strange fighters did.

She pulled herself away from her books when the news made mention of the bank robbery over the weekend. The event had been labeled The Heist Gone Wrong by the media, which was a stupid name if you asked Videl. The report talked about how the robbery was stopped by some unknown person who incapacitated the robbers and left the scene before anyone could see them.

"I guess looking back I can see how Gohan made the top three in our class. At the start, even I thought he would be out in the first round based on the way he acted in the class. I completely forgot how skilled he was." Videl's mind carried on thinking about Gohan's ability to change personas so quickly. "At one moment he looks like a little twig that couldn't even stand up to a light breeze and then he takes down a group of professional thugs without even breaking a sweat. I think he might actually be my biggest challenge in the tournament tomorrow."

With that thought in mind, she turned off the TV and made her way down to the gym to get some extra practice in before bed. Not that it would make much of a difference at this point.

Videl had been working hard for about an hour when her mom came into the gym. "Hey honey, you're really going at it there. Getting all ready for tomorrow?"

"Yep, can't let some dumb jock take my title, now can I?" she responded while giving the punching bag a final hit before turning her full attention to her mom.

"I guess not," her mother agreed sweetly. "Are there any challenges that really stand a chance? Unless I'm mistaken, you made your way though it with ease last year."

"Well there might be this one guy that could get in my way. It's hard to tell with him. At one moment he seems like the weakest person in the universe, and then he goes and makes it to the top three in our class."

"This guy must be pretty special for you to be so worked up over him." Videl's mother gave her a cheeky smile, implying that there was more to it than Gohan being a good fighter.

As if on cue, Videl's face did a very convincing imitation of a tomato. Her mother continued to look right at her, seeing just how long she could keep her little girl flustered like this. Videl, on the other hand, had only been thinking about Gohan in terms of a fighter until now. She didn't put much thought into boys as most of the ones she dealt with were arrogant asses; no surprise as they came from her dad's dojo.

She had enjoyed her little chats with Gohan here and there, not to mention he had saved her life more than once, if she included the incident at the bank. Despite being a good fighter and an overall intelligent person, he never held it over someone else; he never tried to act better than anyone. Videl was taken aback as she realized that he was the definition of humble.

Throughout her rambling thoughts her face had come back to a normal colour and her mother had changed he expression. "So who is this special boy you want to pound so badly?" Despite her mother's innocent face, Videl rolled her eyes at the less-than-subtle pun.

"If you must know, his name is Gohan; he's the same guy that pushed me out of the way when that satellite came crashing down."

Her mom's eyes lit up with recognition. "That's the boy I made your father give the free gym membership to. Your father mentioned that he was a scrawny kid but in your dad's eyes everyone not bulging with muscles is scrawny."

"Dad was actually right on this one. You look at this guy and the first word that pops into your mind is twig. But what do you mean by "made" dad give him the gym membership?"

"Well, you know how your dad is. If it wasn't for the fact that Gohan saved your life, your dad would have gone after him for touching you, let alone giving him a reward. However, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh, so trying to get into my "love life" was just an accident," Videl said with an indignant look.

"I prefer to think of it as a little extra sharing," Videl's mom said with a happy smirk on her face. "Anyways as I was trying to say I have some exciting news for you. You know how each year the finalists of your school's tournament get to go out on a special outing. Well this year, you will be going somewhere different."

"You mean we aren't going to spend the day at dad's gym?" Videl's question was answered by the smile on her mom's face. "Then where are we going this year?" She asked with excitement in her voice.

"For years now your school has been trying to get Capsule Corp to give the finalists a tour of their sports research facility. While I was at a parents' meeting this evening, your principle came in and informed us that they finally agreed to give the tour."

Videl was ecstatic, she had heard about the facility and some of the things they did there. It was said that their training equipment was the best in the world. Every major sports team used their equipment, and a lot of famous athletes would go there for training. One thing that Videl always thought was weird was that her dad could never get their equipment. As far as she knew, that was the only reason people went to other gyms than her dad's.

"Well you have a good night sweetie, and try to get to bed soon; you have an exciting day ahead of you tomorrow." With that, Videl's mom left her to her training. Videl spent a little more time working off the extra energy she got from hearing the good news.

XXXxxxXXX

The next morning Gohan still seemed a bit down . . . and he was. He was mad at his Sayian side for taking over the way it had the day before. He knew that the need to fight and the pride was part of being a Sayian, but he hadn't wanted to end up in the finals of the tournament. All he wanted was to make his mom happy by going to school and making some friends. However, now he was going to be known for his strength.

As Gohan walked into the kitchen for breakfast, he noticed that Bulma looked more tired than usual, but assumed it was just little Trunks keeping her up. His mom brought him a plate of food and he quickly devoured it before heading off the balcony to school.

Gohan landed at the usual place by the train station and walked over to the school. Heading past the front gate Gohan noticed one of Capsule Corps' guest vehicles sitting in the parking lot. He was a little curious about it but put it out of his mind as he walked into the school. He was sitting in homeroom waiting for school to start when Sharpener came running up to him.

"What are you doing here?" Sharpener asked as though Gohan was breaking the law by sitting there.

"What are you talking about? It's a school day, why wouldn't I be here?"

"I guess no one told you. Every year the finalists of the tournament get to go on a special field trip. Last year they got to go to one of Mr. Satan's gyms."

"So where should I be then?"

"All the finalists should be meeting outside the main office. You better hurry up or they might leave without you."

Without another word, Gohan was out of his chair and on his way to the main office. As he ran, he thought about where they were going. He really didn't like the idea of spending most of the day at one of Hercule's gyms. He wouldn't have anything to do except smile and look interested.

He came around the corner leading to the office and found the rest of the finalists already standing there waiting. Gohan quickly made his way over to where Videl was standing. He was hoping she would know what was going to be happening throughout the day since she had been in the finals last year.

"Hey Videl," Gohan said as he approached her. "So do you know what's going to be happening today?"

"How should I know? I should be asking you what's going to happen today." Videl replied, assuming that Gohan already knew where they were headed.

"Why wouldn't you know? Sharpener said that we were going to one of your dad's gyms?"

"That was last year. This year we're going to Capsule Corps' sports research facility. I figured you would have known since . . . well you know." Videl caught herself before saying out loud that Gohan knew Bulma. "My mom told me last night. The school has been trying for years to get a tour of it for the finalists. I figured you knew."

In a way, Gohan knew about the request, since he would see one every now and then as he helped Bulma out. She always took care of it, so really he didn't know what happened with them. However, he had a feeling that his school only got to go because of him being there. Everyone, well at least the Z fighters, knew that Bulma treated Gohan like a son.

"I didn't hear anything about it. I guess it was supposed to be a surprise?" Gohan said back to Videl.

"So do you have any idea about what we might be doing there?" Videl asked in hopes that Gohan would have some inside knowledge.

"I have a general idea of what goes on there but I have never actually been there."

Thinking on it, Gohan was surprised that he hadn't taken the time to get to know the Capsule Corp facility. He decided to make up for that lack of knowledge soon. He felt that he might actually get to enjoy his trip more than he thought he was going to a few minutes ago.

The teens mulled around the main office for a few more minutes until there gym teacher, Mr. Richardson, showed up, followed by a young woman. He quickly got their attention and got them to gather around him.

"Okay everyone, this is Ms. Swan; she is from the sports research facility of Capsule Corp." There was a large cheer as the students realised where they were going. "She is going to be showing us around their facility as well as letting us try out some of their latest training equipment." Once more the teens cheered, hearing this. "Now then, if you will all follow Ms. Swan to the vehicle outside."

The excited students quickly followed the instructions, wanting to get there as quick as possible. They all filed out the doors behind Ms. Swan, who lead them to the vehicle that Gohan had noticed earlier. It was a cross between a bus and a super stretch limo. The students were able to easily fit into the comfortable seats and were impressed with how nice the car was. Once the last person was seated the car took off to Capsule Corp and Ms. Swan started going over some of the facilitie's background story.

"This facility was started by Bulma Briefs, as a new part of the corporation. As most of you know, the main Capsule Corp facility was started by Dr. Briefs with the creation of the Capsule. Anyways, back to the sport facility: can anyone tell me why Mrs. Briefs started the facility?" There was a pause as no one answered the question. Even Gohan didn't know why it was started.

"Well, the reason this facility was started is because at the time Yamcha Bandit was starting his career as a baseball player. Before baseball, Yamcha was an accomplished martial artist but decided on a change of carrier due to financial issues. It was thanks to Yamcha and his amazing skill with baseball that helped to get this division of Capsule Corp really going. Every major player that saw Yamcha play came to Capsule Corp so they could get as good as him. It's clear now that a lot of Yamcha's success came from his own natural talent seeing how no one else has reached his level. However, the training provided at our facility showed enough improvement in sports overall that people who played other sports were coming to Capsule Corp for help. From there, this part of the company has flourished as one of the most highly regarded sports centers in the world."

Ms. Swan could see a mix of interest and boredom from the students and decided to share a few little facts that were sure to catch them all off guard. "As I'm sure you all know, our sports facility is based in Satan City; however it is interesting that none of the gyms or dojo's run by Mr. Satan use equipment from Capsule Corp; does anyone know why this is?"

Once more there was silence as none of the students volunteered an answer, but it was clear they were all playing attention. This time Gohan knew a few reasons why this was, but decided to keep his head low.

"There is no official reason for this except that whenever the Satan Gyms try to purchase equipment, the request always gets denied from the people up top." Gohan had to hide a smile, as he had on more than one occasion been the person to deny the request.

"Unofficially however, it is rumored that Mrs. Briefs was good friends with the last world Champion, Goku Son, and ever since Hercule started to call him a fraud Capsule Corp has shut its doors to Mr. Satan." Gohan also thought that Hercule's inappropriate flirting was a major factor in that decision as well.

Videl let out a little gasp after Ms. Swan mentioned the former world champion, Goku Son. She realized that there must be a connection between Gohan Son and him. That would explain how Gohan was so good at fighting. Ms. Swan, on the other hand, mistook Videl's sudden breath as an indication that she had been insulted.

"As I said, this is just an unofficial rumor on the subject, and could be completely wrong." Ms. Swan was hoping that this would smooth over any hurt feelings on the subject. At this point, the limo pulled up to the facility and the teens were eager to get out and look around.

XXXxxxXXX

At the same time, across town, less than enjoyable plans were being brought out into action. Mercenary Tao was meeting with a group of local thugs to help with the hostage situation he was planning. The group consisted of about twenty men. None of them had much experience beyond your basic convenience store robbery or drive-by shooting.

The lack of experience didn't bother Tao, since he could probably handle the whole thing on his own; he just liked having the extra eyes to keep hostages in line. As well, the gang offered their services cheap, seeing how they would be working with the legendary Tao.

This was like a dream job for Tao. Although he was not at the Cell Games he knew for sure that Hercule didn't have a chance of winning. He could tell that Gero had lost his mind, when he couldn't put two and two together, but since he was getting paid, Tao opted not to correct Gero.

Tao went over the plan one last time with the thugs' leader and headed off to do his own preparations. They had agreed on the time and how things would go down. Tao had made it very clear to the thugs what would happen if any of them strayed from the plan; how he loved the look of fear in their eyes.

XXXxxxXXX

The group at Capsule Corp were having a blast. Inside the building they could see several of the different areas where scientists were putting some very well-known athletes through their paces. Sharpener's friend, Max, saw his favorite soccer player there and almost had a heart attack.

"As you can see, everyone," Ms. Swan started once the teens had had a chance to take in the whole area, "At any given time we play host to some of today's best athletes. Just last week Yamcha was here helping to work on some of our latest training gear. Now if you follow me over here we're going to let all of you go though some of our training exercises."

The group followed eagerly, wanting to see what it was like to be a real athlete. They spent the next couple of hours going through different tests used to assess their physical abilities. There wasn't time for them to all go through a complete set of tests so each person got to try a couple of them.

Videl got to try out the latest punching machine. After hitting it a few times they compared her hits with the others on record and found that she was on par with some pro fighters near her weight class. It seemed that despite her small frame, she could deliver a wallop of a hit.

Around the room, some students were running on treadmills, while others were breathing into tubes to check lung capacity, and some were trying out weights and force gauges. Gohan happened to be trying out one of the force gages when all of a sudden an alarm attached to the machine went off. Gohan let go as fast as he could and hoped he hadn't broken anything. The rest of the group heard the alarm go off and they all looked over at him as one of the scientists went over to find out what that alarm had been. Looking at the computer screen the lab technician found that the gauge had reached the highest level on record. While reading the screen the scientist was saying it out loud causing the whole group to look at Gohan with shocked expressions.

"I must have done it wrong," Gohan said trying to get everyone's attention away from him.

"I don't know, that's a fairly simple device there," the lab technician said. "Why don't you give it another try?"

Gohan nodded sheepishly and went back up to the gauge and tried it again only this time he didn't really try. Letting go once again the lab tech took another look and said that it fell right in the normal range. The rest of the class turned away figuring the whole thing was an accident, but Videl wasn't so easily convinced. She took this little bit of information and tucked it away with the rest of her info on Gohan.

They wrapped up with the testing equipment a short while later and headed off to the cafeteria for lunch. The group of teens had been very impressed with the facility so far. During lunch Gohan ended up sitting with Videl and Max. They were enjoying the delicious food the chefs had made that day – apparently the cafeteria only served five-star foods.

"This is way better than last year," Max said, striking up a conversation as he finished his meal. "Not that your dad's gym was bad or anything." He said this, afraid of insulting Videl.

"My dad's gym was horrible and don't even try to deny it." Videl retorted, bringing a smile to Max's face.

"So what happened at your dad's gym?" Gohan asked, wondering what could have been so bad.

"Well for the first couple of hours, we just walked around being told what the different workout machines were and what kind of exercise could be done. We didn't get to try any of the equipment or exercises they were talking about. The rest of the time was spent watching old footage of my dad's fights and some of the Cell Games. They didn't even give us lunch. I know I won't be here next year but I hope they get the chance to come here." Videl said the last part with almost a shudder at the thought of other students having to go to one of her dad's gyms.

"Well I'm glad I got to come here," Gohan said a happy glint in his eyes. "I knew about some of the things that happened but had no idea about half of the stuff here. I must say this is definitely one of the best things I've done in a while." Gohan's comments were from his point of view as both a student and a head of the corporation.

Lunch soon ended and the students got a tour of the research and development labs where they made the latest training equipment. There were all types of equipment from large weight machines to weighted clothing. One thing that the students were very impressed with was the new gravity floor that allowed the person to increases the gravity up to five times normal.

This was one of the few things Gohan knew about since he had helped Bulma with making the gravity field of the Gravity Room smaller. The floors were a lot more sensitive in that the gravity could be increased a lot more slowly than in the actual Gravity Room.

To demonstrate the flooring, all the students got to stand on it while it was turned up to .02% of normal gravity. Each time a student stood on there you could tell the instant the floor was turned on. Their breath would become heavier and you could see them working harder to just stay standing. Even Videl was having a bit of trouble with the slight increase of gravity. Despite the difficulty Videl picked up one of the light weights on the rack in the area and tried a couple lifts. What normally would have been an easy task for her was very hard, not just from the slight increase of the weight she had picked but also from the overall strain on her body. Her turn soon ended and Gohan was up.

He on the other had only known the thing was on because he had seen the technician turn it on. He tried to look like he was struggling a bit but there was one that could see it as an act. Once more Videl added this bit of information into her mental reserve of facts on Gohan.

Once everyone had finished their turn on the gravity floor, it was time to head back to school for the tournament. In all the excitement of Capsule Corp, a few of the students had completely forgotten about the tournament and were a little disappointed to have to leave. Ms. Swan showed up again and led the group back to the main entrance of the building, where she asked them if they enjoyed their visit. There was a unanimous node of heads and quick answers that everyone had enjoyed the trip.

"Unfortunately it's time for you to leave, but there is one more surprise before you go." The group had no idea of what else could happen that day. They had already seen so much and gotten to try so many things; what more could there be?

"Last night our facility had a surprise visit from Mrs. Briefs," Ms. Swan continued. "She came here to make some finishing touches to a set of new capsules. In short, each of you will be leaving with one of our new gravity floor gym capsules."

There was stunned silence. None of the students could believe this; not even Gohan.

"Are you kidding?" one boy called out in complete disbelief.

"Not at all. Mrs. Briefs came by and dropped them off last night, leaving instructions to give them to you. Now let me just go get them from the back room." Ms. Swan left the group as she walked to the back. The students were still lost as to how to react. This was tuning out to be one of the best days of their lives.

Ms. Swan soon came back with a less-than-excited look on her face. "Sorry guys but it looks like Mrs. Briefs accidently changed the security settings for the back room and I don't have access, so I will have to get those capsules to you at a later time."

Gohan could see the disappointed looks on his fellow students' faces and felt sorry that they would have to wait. Sure, he could go back there and open the back door but that would completely defeat his attempt at keeping a low profile; not that that would last long with the quickly approaching tournament.

Coming up with a better idea, Gohan asked where the bathroom was just before the group was to leave. Once out of sight, he call up Bulma's assistant and explained the situation. Just as he was walking back to the main lobby there was call at the front desk. The attendant answered it but quickly called over for Ms. Swan.

"Excuse me Ms. Swan, there's a call from head office. Something about an accidental security update." Ms. Swan grabbed the phone from the attendant. As the conversation only lasted a moment but Ms. Swan seemed much happier when she hung up.

"Good news everyone, head office just noticed the problem and have reset the system. Why don't all of you head out to the car and I'll be there in a moment with the capsules.

The group walked outside and piled into the roomy Capsule Corp car. Ms. Swan soon joined them and passed out the capsules. At this point the students were on their way back to the school to hold the tournament.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N** Once again its been an eternity since the last up date but know that the story will go on.

Chapter 8

"We're leaving a bit later than planned," Ms. Swan said as she handed the students their capsules. "But, we will try to get you back in time for the start of your tournament: not that it can start without you." She chuckled saying the last part, as did the students: however, the reminder about the tournament began a shift in the way the students were thinking. No longer were they sitting with fellow students but looking at their opponents for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile Tao and his band of hired grunts made their move on the high school. The plan was simple: he would go in through the main entrance and head for the office. Every other exit would be covered by two thugs. They had radios with them to keep in touch in case anything went wrong or the plan had to change. The students were going to be moved to the gym where it would be easier to keep an eye on them.

"Go," Tao said over the radio as he started to move toward the school. He had just gotten onto the school grounds when the P.A. system announced: "would all classes start heading to the gym now."

"Everyone hold!" Tao said over the radio after he heard the announcement. This was just what he needed: all the students in one place would make things easier. "Where is the gym located?"

"It's on the west side of the school by the back field," the leader of the thugs said, trying to show off.

"Everyone get out of sight and wait for my orders. There's going to be a change of plans."

The thugs advancing on the school changed course and walked away, each group of two finding a spot to wait for their updated orders. Some of the hired guns were a bit nervous about the sudden change of plan. They knew that if they screwed up on this job Tao would make sure it was their last.

After about ten minutes Tao made his way to the west side of the building and jumped up on a ledge that he hoped would have a window looking into the gym. He was happy to find that his guess was correct. Looking at the gym below, Tao was curious about what was going on. In the middle of the floor there was a stage that looked distantly like a fighting ring. He didn't know why the school would have a ring; let alone who would be fighting. Tao was confident enough in his skill that he didn't care who the fighters might be; it was unlikely that they could interfere with his plan.

He continued to watch until all the seats were filled, assuming that all the students were there. He would send a group to check the rest of the school once he had control of the gym.

"Here's the new plan," Tao said over the radio to the thugs. He outlined the new entry points for each group and what they were expected to do. Each team confirmed their understanding and the plan was set into motion.

With the crash of doors, twelve thugs came running into the gym from three different entrances. The men split up to cover the gym. Two stayed at each entrance and the other six spread out across the floor and up the aisles where the students were sitting. The sight of men with guns was enough to cause an uproar from the students as they cried out in shock and terror. None of them had been in a situation like this before and they didn't know what to do. The leader of the gang hollered for everyone to stay where they were and be quiet. Within seconds the room was silent and the leader signaled for his men to bring all the staff to one spot. There were a few cries and yells as students saw their teachers get pulled from their seats and moved to the front.

Once the teachers were corralled, the leader gave a signal for the rest of the men outside of the gym to begin their search of the school for any stragglers. One of the gun men brought a teacher up to the leader.

"Who is this?" The leader asked his underling.

"The principle, sir," the man answered while pushing Mr. Plunder forward to face his boss. The poor principle looked wretched. He never did have much of a spine, and given the circumstances he was a wreck; sweat ran down his face and his hand couldn't stop trembling. Using what little courage he had, Mr. Plunder eventually spoke up.

"Who are you? And what is going on?" he said weakly in a trembling voice. However, due to years of talking over students, his voice still carried clear across the gym. The response to his question was the sound of glass shattering as a man came falling on the center of the ring.

"I am mercenary Tao," the man said when he landed, appearing as though jumping from a thirty foot high window was as easy as breathing. "And for now I'm taking over this school. So tell me, why is there a ring set up in your gym?"

"It's for our annual school martial arts tournament," the principle squeaked out.

"Interesting, and where are the competitors for this little event?" As Tao asked this question, a group of people were ushered in to the gym. The thugs sweeping the school collected the secretaries from the office and a few other kids that had tried to sneak away for makeout sessions. The secretaries were put with the teachers and the students were sent to find seats with the rest of the student body. Tao glared at Mr. Plunder to remind him to answer the question now that the disturbance was over.

"The competitors were on a trip to the Capsule Corp Sports Facility. They were supposed to be back by now but they must be running late." Mr. Plunder was speaking clearly now, thinking that he wasn't in any immediate danger.

"And would Ms. Satan happen to be amongst this group of competitors?" Tao leaned in close to the principle, letting his mechanical eyes zoom in and out. His gesture silently reminded Mr. Plunder that he should still be very afraid. The action worked wonders as the man returned to a trembling mess, only responding with a nod of his head.

"Wonderful," Tao said in a cheerful voice, which sent chills down the hostages' spines. "We will just have to wait for them to arrive." He nodded for the man that bought the principle to return him to the other teachers. With the principle gone, Tao turned to the leader of the hired help and instructed him to make sure the soon-to-arrive students made it here without knowing what was happening. Tao wanted to see the shocked expression on the students' faces when they arrived. The leader gave his men some new orders and everyone was left waiting.

XXXxxxXXX

"Looks like we're arriving a little late," Mr. Richardson said as the limo bus was pulling up to the school. "I want everyone to head straight to the gym so we can get things started right away." The students all nodded in reply, with stoic faces on. None of the students had said anything since they left Capsule Corp. Their focus was entirely on the upcoming matches they would be having.

The limo pulled right up at the main entrance and everyone jumped out and headed for the gym. Passing by the office, Gohan thought it a little unusual that none of the secretaries were there. He was used to seeing someone there every time he'd walked past before. However, he just assumed that they were in the back of the office at the moment.

'We must be really late: the halls are deserted. I guess everyone is in the gym already,' Gohan thought as he walked with the rest of the students. He had slowed his pace while thinking, falling to the back of the pack. The group of students all plowed through the gym doors without noticing that something was wrong. Once Gohan had gone through the door it was slammed behind him and he turned to see two men with guns now blocking his way.

For a split second he was going to take out the two men at the door but thought better of it since he didn't know the extent of the situation. For all he knew there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for there to be two armed men at his school. However, he stayed on guard all the same, knowing that the gun men were most likely something bad.

The rest of Gohan's group soon noticed other men caring fire arms and in a purely instinctual movement they all grouped closer together. Videl was up at the front of the group of student and did her best not to look scared. She had been mad at herself for the way she reacted at the bank robbery, and had decided to never back down in fear again.

Time seemed to slow down for the new group of students. Gohan, however, just wanted to know what was going on. Looking ahead, he spotted none other than mercenary Tao standing in the middle of the ring. Knowing that Tao only worked for other people, Gohan was interested in the reason why he was here.

Switching to unimportant nerd mode, Gohan lowered his head, dropped his shoulders, slouched, and bent his knees just enough, so he mostly disappeared at the back of his group. He made his movements slow and carefully so the guards at the doors wouldn't notice the change. The final key was for him to drop his power level and remove any killing intent. The last part was the hardest; memories of his last encounter with Tao ran through his head, reminding him that this man had no problem killing.

Tao, not noticing Gohan in the group, approached Videl. He came close to her as he had done with the principle. However, instead of simply intimidating her, he was sizing her up. He knew that her father's ability was a far cry from his own but he still wondered what she was capable of. Before the attack on the school Tao had done some research on his target and discovered she was an avid martial artist.

"So you are Videl Satan, daughter of the man that … killed Cell?" It was more of a statement than a question, especially with the way he said the last part; as though the thought of Hercule beating Cell was preposterous.

"What do you want with us?" Her reply filled more with anger than fear.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Just some bug-eyed idiot as far as I'm concerned." Her overly aggressive response almost made Gohan jump from hiding to intercept the attack he was almost sure Tao was going to deliver. Instead Tao chuckled.

"Few have dared to say such things to me, the great mercenary Tao. However I am not being paid to kill you, so I will overlook this slight for now." His eyes looked her over once more, enjoying her small tremble at the mention of his name. "I take it you know who I am?"

"You're the most notorious mercenary alive. It's said that you have never failed to complete a job and that no one has ever beaten you in a fight before." He smiled hearing the sound of fear creep back into her voice as she spoke. The smile infuriated Videl, realizing that he was pleased with the fear coming from her.

"Who hired you, and why?" she cried out in a bust of anger, overcoming her fear in the only way she knew how.

"HAHA! You are very spirited. However, I would advise you to remember who you are talking to. Now then, why am I here? You're a smart looking girl. I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. Seeing as how no one is dead yet, I'd say it's safe to assume that I'm here to make a disturbance. You see, your father made someone very unhappy when he beat Cell, and as such, I'm here to threaten your life."

"You really don't have any brains, do you? You're threating my father, the man that defeated Cell, a monster worse than YOU, even." Videl wanted to burst with laughter as she said this, still firmly believing that her father was the great saviour of the world he claimed to be.

"My dear child, I almost feel sorry that you believe that: but, lucky for me, my client is just as stupid. Years of isolation must have affected Dr. Gero more than I would have guessed. No matter: he still pays top dollar."

'Gero.' The name ran through Gohan's mind like a pyroclastic flow, eradicating his current mindset of careful analysis and replacing it with the festering memories of Cell. Without thought, Gohan spoke out the one thing he knew to be true.

"Gero is dead!"

Gohan's outburst broke the quiet atmosphere created by Tao's conversation with Videl. The room filled with gasps of shock and worry. Some students feared that Gohan would be killed for interrupting Tao. Others were shocked that Gohan knew this Gero person.

The mercenary turned his gaze on Gohan allowing his bionic eyes to study the teen. Yet, with the crowd of students in front of him, all Tao could see was the stern look on Gohan's face. 'I see some of these students are spirited," Tao thought, noting the contempt on Gohan's face. 'I should make an example of this boy; remind these kids of their place. Although this one seems to know about Gero, I should find out where he got his information from. Then I can kill him.'

"So child, you think you know about the great Dr. Gero. Tell me, what makes you think he is dead?"

"My friend saw him get killed by his own creation, Android 17."

There were a few gasps from the crowd of people, surprised by what Gohan was saying. Some of the students assumed that it must have been another kid that saw this happen.

"It would not surprise me if that crazy scientist got himself killed by one of his experiments, but I can assure you he is very much alive. Only Dr. Gero contacts me in the manner he did. So it would seem you are wrong. Therefore you have no useful information for me, so there is no point in keeping you alive any longer."

The whole student body gasped and cried out with those words. They soon returned to their state of silent shock as Tao started to twist his hand off.

"You see, I might not have been hired to kill anybody, but I can't have little brats think that they can stand up to me." He said this while looking at Gohan and glancing at Videl, indicating to her that part of this was her fault for trying to act tough. The glace had its desired effect as her stoic face fell to one of terror and guilt.

The heavy mood seemed to lighten when a chuckle echoed clearly in the silent gym. It took a moment for everyone to realize that it was coming from Gohan. None of the students could understand why this soon-to-be-dead student was laughing. Some thought that he had cracked, knowing he was about to die. Other speculated that he thought the threat was a joke. Although no one that had met Gohan in the last week would have expected what he said next.

"What makes you think you are capable of killing me? Have you forgotten who I am! Don't you remember Chazke Village?"

". . . Gohan?" was all Tao could say as shock filled his face and sweat covered his body. Gohan simply replied with a nod of his head, making Tao take a step back. The feeling in the air shifted from one of fear and dread to one of complete shock. Both the school and the hired guns were shocked to see Tao, the legendary assassin, move away from this kid in fear.

Despite Gohan's calm exterior, he was a raging ball of emotion on the inside. No matter what he told himself, Tao had no reason to lie about Gero being alive. He knew it should be impossible but so too were many of the crazy inventions that man came up with. This new truth filled him with fear and rage, leaving him to act on base instincts instead of logic and calm reason.

"Now Tao, get your little goons to leave." Tao trembled slightly at the command, his pride and desire to live fighting against each other. In the end the desire to live won out as he remembered his past dealings with Goku, knowing that this boy was just as strong.

"You heard him, get out of here," Tao said to his men in a rushed command, hoping Gohan would take into account his cooperation.

"You got to be kidding, taking orders from a kid," the thug by the gym entrance said, pointing his gun towards Gohan. "Let me just shoot this tiny punk and be done with it."

Gohan turned to the gun man; his inner rage now starting to show on the surface. His killing intent flared out as he took a step towards the thug. The man trembled for a moment, sensing that something was not right with this kid. The whole student body had chills run down their spines as they too felt the negative energy coming from him.

The man finally tried to fire but nothing happened. He pulled the trigger again and again but not a sound or bullet came out. The man looked down at his gun to see why it wasn't firing only to discover Gohan's hand firmly crushing the chamber of the gun. The man was shocked both from the sight of twisted metal beneath the hand of the boy and by how quickly he had gotten there to grab his gun. The man dropped the gun in fear and was taking a step back when he felt something hit him in the stomach

Gohan let the gun fall only to deliver a devastating punch to the guy's stomach. The poor man flew into the gym doors behind him and crashed through them, tearing the left one off its hinges. Faces that had previously been surprised turned to fear as they watched the man on the ground cough up large amounts of blood.

Gohan turned around to face Tao again. The leader of the thugs had moved to stand beside the mercenary during the altercation with the gun man. Gohan could tell that this man was the leader and addressed him.

"I told you to leave. I won't ask again!"

The leader's face turned white as he tried to find his voice. Failing that, he waved his hand to signal his men to retreat. All too eager, the men quickly ran out, leaving their injured comrade behind.

"I will just go and get out of your hair now," Tao was saying as he started moving to another exit.

"I didn't say you could go yet, Tao," Gohan yelled out, making the mercenary stop in his tracks. "You have some information I need. Tell me: where is Dr. Gero hiding?"

"Now, now, Gohan you can't expect me to give out client information like that, now can you?"

Gohan was not in the mood for games. He fazed in front of Tao and picked him up by the neck with one arm, raising him up onto his tippy toes. "Let's try this again," Gohan said through clenched teeth. "Where is Dr. Gero hiding?"

"I don't know, I swear," Tao pleaded, realizing that Gohan was not as gentle-hearted as his father. "He contacted me. I never met him."

Seeing the terror in the poor man's eyes, Gohan knew he was telling the truth. Lowering the man back to the ground, he released his grip around Tao's neck and nodded for the man to leave. Without a second thought Tao jumped back out the window he had come in through, and got out of the city as fast as possible.

With Tao and his thugs gone, the student body started to relax. One of the students must have called the cops because off in the distance people could hear sirens approaching. Despite the calm, the school now felt everyone started to look at Gohan. It had been because of him that twenty armed men and the most notorious mercenary ran away. The students didn't know what to think of this turn of events.

The sirens were getting close: probably just pilling into the front parking lot. Still, the gym stayed quiet, eyes still fixed on Gohan who just stood there staring of into space. The echo of running feet could be heard out in the hall way, a clear sign the cops were in the building now.

The approach of the police broke the students out of their daze and they began to mill around and talk to each other. It was clear each student was affected in a different way. Some students tried to put the incident out of their heads and began talking about the usual things – classes and homework. Others were not so badly affected and kept say the same thing over: "Can you believe what just happened . . . and Gohan just . . ."

The police soon entered the room and seeing that no one was outwardly hurt, they approached the principal. "Mr. Plunder, can you tell me what happened?" the officer asked him. The principle stuttered, "Men with guns . . . He came through the window . . . School tournament . . . Gohan." He pointed around the gym as he said each incoherent sentence. In the end his finger came to rest pointing in Gohan's direction. With his final movement, the principle swayed and passed out on the floor.

The officer guessed that the student Mr. Plunder just pointed at must know something. He walked up to Gohan, who was still standing motionless. "Can you tell me what happened, son?" Gohan turned to look at the officer. His eyes looked vacant, as thouh he was far away in some other place. Little did the people around him know, he was reliving the Cell Games in his mind. Although he said nothing, Videl was right beside him now, ready to tell the whole story.

"I can tell you what happened officer," Videl said to the man. He broke off his gaze from the absent- minded teen and gave her a nod to tell away.

"I wasn't here right when it started because I was on a field trip, but from what I know it would seem a group of thugs marched into the school and held everyone hostage. They were working for the mercenary Tao: apparently he was hired to hold me and the school hostage. All the students were here in the gym by the time we got back from our field trip. That's when Tao told me about his plan. He said he was hired by a guy named Gero. That's when Gohan here spoke up and told them all to leave. One of the armed men attacked him but Gohan quickly sent him flying through the door. After that the armed man and Tao left." Videl knew she left a couple things out but figured it best just to give the officer the gist of it at the moment so they could get to work sorting out what to do with the students.

The officer went and talked to his team and got them to start moving the students back to their classrooms so they could get statements from them. With the rest of the officers busy working with the other students in the gym, he went back to where Gohan was. As he arrived by Gohan's side he saw Videl was tugging on his arm, trying to get him to snap out of whatever trance he was in.

After another moment Gohan moved his head and it was clear he was back in the moment. The officer got straight to the point where he saw the change. "I need you to come with me so I can figure out what happened here." Gohan had a worried look on his face when he turned to the officer. "I'm sorry but I don't have time to chat with you. I'm sure several of the students can tell you everything that happened." With that he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed a number. Videl and the officer stood there in shock at the fact that first Gohan refused to cooperate with the police, and now he was making a phone call.

Videl and the officer, although shocked, listened in on the call as best they could. "It's me," they could hear Gohan say on his side. "I need you to get everyone to meet me at the lookout . . . Gero's alive . . . thanks, and please don't let my mom know. Bye." With that he hung up the phone and started to walk away.

"Hey kid, I've tried to be understanding but I need you to come with me," the officer said reaching out to grab Gohan by the shoulder. As his hand made contact Gohan turned and shoved the officer back several steps. "I suggest you don't try that again." The statement was said in a harsh tone, not one of malice, but one of complete authority. The officer stood down and didn't try to stop the boy again.

"Where are you going?" Videl called out. She was worried about him. "To do my job!" it was a simple statement that left her confused but for some reason she was unable to pursue him any further. He walked out of the school and headed straight to the lookout, not caring if anyone saw him take off.

XXXxxxXXX

"Computer, is there any word on how Tao's mission is going?" Gero demanded, knowing that there should be some news on it by now.

"According to reports there was an incident earlier, but it seems it was resolved before the police or reporters arrived."

"Damn it, Tao failed me. I never expected him to fail. I guess there is something to this Hercule guy if his daughter is able to take out Tao. I guess we'll have to go to Plan B. Computer: activate the factory. Let's see how his little girl handles an army of my androids."


End file.
